MD AG releases new guidelines to combat profiling by police

MARYLAND – “A clarification of what police can and cannot do.”  That’s what Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh is calling the guidelines, issued by his Office today, with the goal of reducing racial profiling by law enforcement.

Frosh says the guidelines apply to two types of law enforcement activity – routine and investigative. For routine work – such as traffic stops, a person’s race, gender, sexual orientation – and other demographic factors, should play no part in a police officer’s actions.

For investigating specific crimes, demographics also should not be a factor unless directly relevant to the case.  For example, if an anonymous tip identifies a suspect by skin color.

Maryland is the first state to issue such guidelines which mirror ones already stated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Frosh says his office was considering this action prior to the April unrest in Baltimore.

“We were working on it before that happened and it delayed our announcement of it for a little while because we didn’t want it to be subsumed in that controversy. We think this is an issue that’s important on its own,” says Frosh.

But Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis says not only is the timing curious, but also that the recommendations aren’t needed – because of the Civil Rights Act.

“This decision, quite honestly, caught me off guard, because it’s totally unnecessary. We already have laws in place, both at the federal level and at the state level, that prohibit racial profiling.  We do not condone racial profiling of any kind, and we never have, and we never will,” says Lewis.

Sheriff Lewis says he stands by his deputies and practices but he would be open to the idea of training sessions, which are part of the Attorney General’s memo.

Frosh says his office will hold training for law enforcement throughout the state, but no timeline on exactly when.

Those training sessions will not be mandatory.