For Immediate Release: Saturday, November 19, 2016
Montgomery Council Committee to discuss
use of Tasers by County police
Also on Monday, Nov. 21: overview of sexual assault investigations;
Greater Lyttonsville Sector Plan
ROCKVILLE, Md., November 18, 2016—The Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 21, will hold a worksession on the County Police Department’s use of Tasers. Part of the session will focus on whether the department has changed any of its training regarding Taser use based upon a range of incidents nationally—and public reaction to some of those incidents.
The Public Safety Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Marc Elrich and includes Councilmembers Tom Hucker and Sidney Katz, will meet in the Seventh Floor Conference Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.
The meeting will be will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon. The meeting also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
Police Chief Tom Manger is among those expected to meet with the Public Safety Committee, which held a worksession with police officials on Taser use in April after a March 19 investigative story in The Baltimore Sun reported that Montgomery County Police were involved with four of 11 fatal Taser incidents in Maryland since 2009.
The worksession also will address whether the police department has expanded its use of Tasers and also if there are new types of equipment that the department has considered as technological upgrades.
The committee also will discuss with police representatives the procedures and protocols regarding sexual assault investigations.
In September, the online news site BuzzFeed released an investigative report into how various police departments handle unfounded sexual assault cases. Of major concern was the assertion that many police departments classify cases as "unfounded," even without investigating them.
The FBI defines "unfounded" sex assault as a complaint that is either false or baseless. "Baseless" means the complaint did not meet the elements of a crime in that particular state, while "false" means the victim lied about the complaint. County Police report that there is a very low percentage of false complaints.
It is expected that the committee will ask about how investigations are "victim-centered" and what that means in relation to investigation, prosecution and other police procedures such as issuing press releases about potential suspects.
At 1:30 p.m. in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room, the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Nancy Floreen and includes Councilmembers George Leventhal and Hans Riemer, will begin review of the proposed Greater Lyttonsville Sector Plan. The discussions on Monday will focus on transportation, school and land use issues in the historic section of Silver Spring that likely will be undergoing revitalization in the future.
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