Baltimore City’s road to local control of its police department has been long and winding, but it is one step closer now thanks to new legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly earlier this spring.
In order for the city to have full local control of the department, the Baltimore City council and mayor need to have authority over the police commissioner. And yet, language in the city’s charter exempted the police commissioner from that legislative oversight. That fix needed to be done by lawmakers in Annapolis.
SB 894/HB 948, which takes effect June 1, removes those restrictions.
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
