ROCKVILLE, Md. — A new proposal in Montgomery County would require an independent investigation to take place after an officer-involved death takes place in the county.
The bill comes after the death of 41-year-old Silver Spring resident Robert White in June 2018. White died during a confrontation with an officer in a parking lot near his home.
Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando proposed the bill, which is formally named the “Law Enforcement Trust and Transparency (LETT) Act”.
The LETT Act would require that at least two independent investigators examine any fatal case involving an officer in Montgomery County. Those investigators would also have to be employed by a law enforcement agency outside of the county.
READ: The LETT Act Memorandum
On top of that, Jawando’s bill would also require an independent report be made available to the public regarding the case.
“It's just no longer acceptable to have the entity involved in the death of a resident involved in investigating itself,” he said. “It's just not good practice."
The public got the chance to comment on the proposal during a hearing Tuesday night at the Montgomery County Council Office. Twenty speakers signed up to participate in the meeting including a friend of White’s named Marvin Whitfield.
"I support this bill, because at the heart of it is the victim, Robert White,” he said.
The Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said he does not oppose impartial, outside investigation. However, he said was concerned about some of the bill’s legalities and how different agencies would collaborate at incident scenes.
“What I can't have as the chief of police in this county is a response time that leaves a victim, a body, in a street for hours waiting for someone from another jurisdiction to get there,” he said.
WUSA9 reached out to other departments in the region to see if they have requirements like the one that is being proposed in Montgomery County.
Both the Metropolitan Police Department and Prince George’s County Police Department do not. However, the latter agency said it tries to involve outside groups in its investigations of officers whenever it can.
The Fairfax County Police Department established an Independent Police Auditor position in February 2017.
If the Montgomery County Council does vote to approve Jawando’s bill, it would not be the first step the county has taken to letting an outside entity review its officers’ conduct.
An agreement between the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office maintains that whenever an officer-involved death occurs in either county, the other county’s state’s attorney’s office will examine the incident to determine whether criminal prosecution is necessary.
Jawando’s bill will be further discussed at a Public Safety Committee hearing on March 25. A similar bill has also been proposed in the Maryland statehouse.