For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 15, 2019
From the Office of Councilmember Will Jawando
Letter sent in response to MCPD stop and frisk where African American community members were called a racial slur
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 15, 2019 – On May 14, Councilmembers sent a letter, spearheaded by Councilmember Will Jawando, to Acting Police Chief Russell Hamill calling for the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) to “eradicate from MCPD any tolerance for behaviors that cause or encourage any officer to act in a manner that is unlawful, disrespectful or otherwise racially motivated toward any resident of Montgomery County.” The letter is in response to video footage that was posted on social media on May 9, and subsequently released by MCPD, that showed a County police officer using offensive and discriminatory language towards community members outside of a fast-food restaurant located in White Oak. The letter also requests the release of all the body camera footage related to the incident, information about police stops and trespassing citations throughout the County and for the release of MCPD’s policy on racial profiling.
The full text of the letter is below and attached.
Dear Chief Hamill,
We are writing today to convey to you our alarm and deep dismay over the actions of several Montgomery County Police Department officers who on Thursday, May 9, 2019, detained, frisked, and issued trespassing citations to four African-American men as they finished their breakfast outside of a White Oak McDonald’s while waiting for a ride to their jobs for the day.
We have seen the social media footage, reviewed the publicly available body-camera footage, and learned details of the incident from an in-person meeting between Councilmembers Jawando and Rice and two of the young men detained by MCPD. From what we have learned, we have reason to believe the actions by our county police violated department protocol and standards that we would expect of county-employed personnel.
As our Acting Police Chief, you are directly responsible for the management of our police force. In that regard, we write to encourage you to work to eradicate from MCPD any tolerance for behaviors that cause or encourage any officer to act in a manner that is unlawful, disrespectful or otherwise racially motivated toward any resident of Montgomery County. We recognize that we have great men and women who protect and serve our community. The incident last week damages the trust needed to help keep our community safe and does a disservice to officers who put their lives on the line and uphold the high standards of MCPD with dignity every day.
First, we learned from our meeting with those held by MCPD that they were issued trespassing citations by 3rd District officers despite the fact that at no time were they accused of trespassing, or asked to leave the restaurant by any employee or police officers. These young men were not acting unlawfully. In fact, they had purchased breakfast from the restaurant, and moved outside to finish their food while waiting for their scheduled ride to work. As we learned from our meeting with these young men, they have now lost their jobs as a direct result of this incident.
Second, but perhaps of even greater concern, is the broader issue of leadership and culture within the MCPD. As captured on the limited release of body-cam footage from one of at least six, possibly eight, officers who responded, our MCPD officers used reprehensible, demeaning and completely inappropriate language to refer to the very residents they are sworn to uphold and protect. Most public interest and coverage of the incident has centered on the one female officer, clearly using the “N” word during the exchange. However, the tone, language and actions of the sergeant on the scene was also contemptible. Other officers on scene seemed impervious to the words, actions and tenor of the actively detaining officers, although from publicly available footage the aforementioned behaviors would seem to be clear violations of departmental policy and common standards for human decency and could be construed as violations of the civil rights of our residents.
Third, we understand that McDonald’s has an agreement with MCPD that officers can act as their agents and stop and detain people in the immediate vicinity of that restaurant even though there has been no call for police. We are concerned that such an agreement creates a climate ripe for racial profiling and the loss of trust, accountability and transparency.
We call on you to detail how you intend to address these issues, what steps you will take to remedy the immediate situation for these four residents (including exploration of rescinding the trespassing orders), and what you will do to change the culture in MCPD that leads some individual officers to publicly flaunt not just department policy, but basic tenets of respect and professionalism when interacting with county residents. Specifically, we call on you as Acting Chief to:
Sincerely,
| Will Jawando | Nancy Navarro |
| Craig Rice | Hans Riemer |
| Evan Glass | Gabe Albornoz |
| Tom Hucker | Andrew Friedson |
| Sidney Katz |
|