After the death of Freddie Gray in April 2015, then Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the Baltimore Police Department (BPD). Fifteen months later, the DOJ released their report which revealed constitutional violations within the department, including unconstitutional stops, racial profiling, and using unreasonable force.

As a result, the City of Baltimore, the BPD, and the DOJ entered into a Consent Decree, which is a court enforceable agreement to resolve the DOJ’s findings. The Consent Decree is 511 paragraphs of specific requirements that BPD must adhere to in order to satisfy the Court and before the parties can exit the Consent Decree.

The decree is overseen by Judge James Bredar, Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. While it is Judge Bredar’s job to determine when the requirements of the decree have been met, he is relying heavily on the Independent Monitor to assess BPD’s compliance with the Consent Decree.

The Independent Monitor brings a swath of experience in legal, technical and community-related fields. The community relation aspect was entrusted to the Baltimore Community Mediation Center, who in turn selected 11 neighborhood liaisons that live in each of the nine police districts that are tasked with disseminating information to their district, and collecting concerns from the community.

Wait, there is another civilian board?

It might get confusing when there is the Civilian Review Board (CRB), the Community Oversight Task Force (COTF), and now the Neighborhood Liaisons.

The CRB will exist after the consent decree is resolved, and is an important part of handling police misconduct. The COTF is required by the consent decree, and will recommend reforms to the CRB.

The Nieghborhood Liaisons are completely unrelated to the CRB, and work directly with Judge Bredar.

What do Neighborhood Liaisons Do?

If you have a complaint about police misconduct, that needs to go to either the Office of Professional Responsibility or the Civilian Review Board, just as it would if the department were not under a Consent Decree. However, if the department does not respond to you in the required amount of time, or if you feel that your complaint was mishandled, that information needs to get to Judge Bredar.

Your neighborhood liaison is also responsible for keeping their district updated on the progress of the consent decree. The process is estimated to take five years, and will cover every part of the 511 paragraphs of the consent decree. Your neighborhood liaison can help you keep updated on the process, and can attend your community meetings to discuss some of the work that is going on. If you are interested, please email info@bpdmonitor.com.

If you have feedback about what outreach should look like in your district, please send feedback. All liaisons are your neighbors, and are trying to be as effective as possible.

If you are interested in updates on the consent decree in the Southeast district, sign up for our low volume email list. The list will announce outreaches, events, and news that relate to the Southeast district. If you would like to be notified about all Monitor related activities, sign up for their list on their website.

Comments, questions, are all welcome concerns. We are excited to get started with the process.