An Individual Petition to the Mayor of the City of Baltimore100 Holliday St # 250, Baltimore, MD 21202, United StatesThe City of Baltimore needs to take drastic measures to end police misconduct in allits forms, from routine infractions like dishonesty to serious misconduct and abuse, includingexcessive force, sexual misconduct, police brutality, and domestic violence.With 44 state oversight agencies having barred more than 30,000 police officers fromserving in law enforcement (Kelly & Nichols, 2020), police misconduct is no doubt awidespread national problem. However, it is also clear that the degree of oversight varieswidely from one state to the next. While states like Florida and Georgia have decertifiedthousands of officers for everything from questions about their fitness to serve to crimes,others like Maryland have banned almost none. Over close to a decade, Maryland revokedonly four officers’ certifications. This is despite the fact that the Baltimore Police Departmenthas been in the news regularly for the misconduct of its officers.It has been suggested elsewhere, and I agree, that to end police misconduct, two majorchanges must be implemented. First, officers who have been investigated for misconduct andfound guilty should be named and shamed in a public database such as the one maintained byUSA Today, terminated, and barred from ever serving in law enforcement in any state (Kelly& Nichols, 2020; Ray, 2020). Secondly, civilian pay-outs resulting from cases of policemisconduct should be restructured by moving them from taxpayer money to the insurancepolicies of individual police departments. States could even go further and require individualofficers to have liability insurance. The idea is to make it painful and costly for officers anddepartments to engage in misconduct.These two solutions deserve elaboration. Regarding the first solution – naming andshaming, terminating, and debarring rouge officers – would be especially effective in

AN INDIVIDUAL PETITION TO THE MAYOR 3
deterring police misconduct. However, the main challenge here is that the investigation and
disciplining of officers accused of misconduct are largely internal to police departments with
little external oversight if any (Ray, 2020). Complaints of individual police misconduct are
often lodged with the officer’s department. The complaints are processed up the chain, and if
they go all the way to the top, they are considered by a trial board that usually consists of
three officers. The trial board acts as its own judge and jury. To be dismissed from service, an
officer must have committed a very serious offense or crime. Otherwise, other less severe
types of reprimand are often meted out, including being put on desk duty, being sent on
unpaid or paid leave, or being fined at prorated amounts to be deducted from future
paychecks.
Regarding the second solution, the current practice is that, because of qualified
immunity, officers are usually protected from the financial implications of their actions.
Consequently, civil pay-outs are often settled by the respective city government. For
example, since 2010, the City of Baltimore has been found liable for close to $50 million for
police misconduct (Ray, 2020). This practice – where city governments settle the civil pay-
outs resulting from the misconduct of their police officers – is unlike what is found in public
healthcare, where hospitals and physicians maintain malpractice insurance. The practice also
likely encourages officer misconduct, knowing full well that there will be no personal
financial consequences. There is, therefore, the need for Maryland state legislators to follow
in the footsteps of New York and enact legislation requiring individual officers to have
liability insurance.
These two proposed solutions, I believe, constitute a good starting point for the mayor
to enact reforms aimed at reducing police misconduct.

AN INDIVIDUAL PETITION TO THE MAYOR 4

References

Kelly, J., & Nichols, M. (2020, June 11). We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for
misconduct. Now you can read their records. Retrieved from USA TODAY NEWS:
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/usa-today-
revealing-misconduct-records-police-cops/3223984002/
Ray, R. (2020, August 25). How can we enhance police accountability in the United States?
Retrieved from Brookings: https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/how-
can-we-enhance-police-accountability-in-the-united-states/