Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said Friday that she is forming a Police Reform Task Force that will provide recommendations for reforms to the Prince George’s County Police Department.
County officials said the task force will undertake a comprehensive study and review of policies of the Police Department, including hiring, training and use of force policies. The group will submit a report to Alsobrooks no later than Oct. 30, which the county executive will use to determine what reforms the department should implement.
Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D)
Alsobrooks’ announcement comes two weeks after the resignation of former Prince George’s police chief Hank Stawinski following the release of a damning consultant’s report that showed widespread racial discrimination within the department.
“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. “I am confident that this group of community advocates and public officials will develop insightful recommendations, helping our Police Department truly become a model for our nation.”
The task force will be co-chaired by Prince George’s County Circuit Court Judge Maureen Lamasney and state Del. Alonzo T. Washington (D).
The other members are: Dr. Kris March, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland; Krystal Oriadha, a community activist; Florence Felix-Lawson, chair of the Civilian Complaint Oversight Panel; County Council President Todd M. Turner (D); Tara Jackson, a deputy chief administrative officer for the county government; Mark Magaw, a deputy chief administrative officer for the county government; retired U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams Jr.; former Prince George’s County state’s attorney Glenn Ivey (D); Del. Wanika Fisher (D); Sonia Wiggins-Pruitt, chair of the National Black Police Association; Joe Ruddy, a deputy county attorney; Archie O’Neill, director of security services at the Prince George’s County Public Schools; Donnell Turner, inspector general of the Prince George’s County Police Department; Keith Lotridge, the public defender for the county; Dwayne Preston, a former assistant police chief in Bowie; Orlando Barnes, a retired assistant sheriff; Judith Danso, chief of staff in the state’s attorney’s office; and Josephine Mourning, president of the Prince George’s chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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