Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said on Wednesday that “there are things we absolutely have to change” about policing, and that the change has to start from the top.
In a briefing with Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles, Elrich expanded on a question about racial disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic to speak more broadly.
He said that, working with police Chief Marcus Jones, outside resources are being brought in 鈥渇or reevaluating everything鈥� about the Montgomery County police, from hiring to practices to discipline. He said the police will bring a contract for that to the Montgomery County Council for approval.
Elrich added that though high-profile instances of police misconduct lead people to 鈥渇ocus on the actions of individuals,鈥� the real problem is that officers who are 鈥渙ver-policing鈥� are following their training, as well as a structure that rewards officers 鈥渇or how many tickets they write instead of how many community meetings they attend.鈥�
鈥淚t seems like an officer problem,鈥� Elrich said, 鈥淚 can assure you it鈥檚 an institutional problem. They鈥檙e not told to be excessively violent; some people are going to get out of hand, and we鈥檒l deal with that.鈥� Other than that, however, 鈥渢his starts top-down,” he said.
He gave an example of what he called a pretextual stop, with a hypothetical conversation between an officer and a driver: 鈥溾�橸ou don鈥檛 have a body in the car?鈥� 鈥極f course I don鈥檛 have a body in the car.鈥� 鈥榃ell then, you wouldn鈥檛 mind if I searched the trunk.鈥欌��
鈥淭hat did not originate with the officers,鈥� Elrich said, 鈥渢hat came from the top.鈥�
Among other measures, he said, included a task force working on decriminalizing homelessness, which leads to people getting 鈥渃aught in a vicious cycle.鈥� When a homeless person commits a minor offense, Elrich said, they鈥檙e sent a summons. If they don鈥檛 have an address, they don鈥檛 get notice of a trial date, and then they get arrested for failure to appear.
鈥淲e ought to be able to put an end to that stuff,鈥� Elrich said.
He also said black and brown communities in Montgomery County 鈥� and nationwide 鈥� could be helped with a new emphasis on homeownership.
Currently, efforts to expand housing opportunities focus on rentals, Elrich said, which struck him as 鈥減retty paternalistic, because underlying that is a notion that poor people can鈥檛 manage their affairs.鈥� An apartment building could just as easily be turned into a condominium complex that lets people own their homes, but 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not a decision that鈥檚 been made,鈥� Elrich said.
He added that he looked forward to the current moment 鈥渂eing the opening鈥� to discuss such issues, which he called 鈥渃ause No. 1 underlying racism.”
鈥淎nd here鈥檚 an opportunity to do something about it,” Elrich said.
