Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021

New state laws from the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021 are slowly going into effect and I learned about new directives yesterday during a meeting, even though such directives have, technically, been in place since July 2022.

What is the Maryland Police Accountability Act?

This law, which was passed in 2021 by the Maryland Legislature, requires all counties to create police oversight boards serving a different function each. The three police oversight boards consist of: a Police Accountability Board, an Administrative Charging Committee, and a Trial Board. In Wicomico County, population 103980, the County Council and the county executives signed into law the creation of the three police oversight boards in April 2022. In Washington County, population 154937, that was done in June 2022, about a month prior to the effective date of such boards. Based on my understanding, two boards -- instead of three -- were created in Washington County, which is also where I currently work. Here, there's the Police Accountability Board and a Charging Committee which, it seems to me, also handles a Trial Board, or oversees it.

How did this bill start?

This was brought up during a police meeting with my agency I had yesterday, where we also discussed the new marijuana laws that went into effect on January 1, 2023. We were reminded to be careful as law enforcement officers in the state of Maryland as we are being more and more scrutinized. As part of the Maryland Accountability Act, most police agencies will be required to have a body camera program by July 2023 (with a few more agencies given an extra deadline of July 2025). All these laws were enacted following the George Floyd incident that occurred in May 2020, and the nationwide protests that followed in June 2020.

What other states have adopted similar bills

Maryland is not the only state to pass police reforms: according to an analysis from the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park, 300 police reform bills were passed nationwide after Floyd's killing in May 2020. California, Utah, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and Virginia are among those states (there's clearly more). In Maryland, then-governor Larry Hogan tried to veto the bill to no avail. As an opinion writer puts in The Hill, "Maryland police (officers) have a tough road ahead."

Sources: 
Wicomico County Government: https://www.wicomicocounty.org/755/Maryland-Police-Accountability-Act#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20Maryland%20Legislature,which%20serves%20a%20different%20function.
Washington County Government: https://www.washco-md.net/police-accountability-board/
University of Maryland College Park, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism: https://cnsmaryland.org/2022/10/28/states-approved-nearly-300-bills-affecting-policing-in-wake-of-george-floyds-murder/
The Hill: https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/553683-maryland-police-have-a-tough-road-ahead/