LARGO, Md. (AP) - The top elected official in one of Maryland’s largest counties has formed a task force to look at reforming its police department amid a national wave of protests over police brutality and racial injustice.
Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks announced the task force’s creation on Friday, less than a month after she accepted the resignation of Police Chief Hank Stawinski. He resigned last month within hours of a court filing that portrayed the county’s department as an agency poisoned by a racist culture.
The Washington Post reports that the new task force will be charged with making recommendations on hiring, training and use of force in policing.
Prince George’s County Circuit Court Judge Maureen Lamasney and state Del. Alonzo Washington, a Democrat who represents the county, will lead the task force. They are scheduled to submit a report with their recommendations to Alsobrooks by Oct. 30.
“While we have made important strides together as a community to build a responsive, transparent and accountable Police Department, we realize that there is still more work to be done to address issues that are present in PGPD and in police departments across the nation,” Alsobrooks said in a statement.
Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, sued the county and Stawinski in December 2018 on behalf of several current and former officers. A court filing last month for the federal lawsuit accused the department of condoning racism and retaliating against Black and Hispanic officers who complained about white colleagues’ bigoted behavior.
Prince George’s County abuts Washington, D.C., and has more than 900,000 residents. The county is predominantly Black, but its police department has a greater percentage of white officers than Black officers, the lawsuit said.
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