Maryland’s legislature overrode vetoes by Republican Governor Larry Hogan to enact three police accountability laws, including one that repealed the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, a series of regulations that protect police officers from the enforcement of many laws that would apply to them if they weren’t carrying a badge.
As the Washington Post reports, the Democratic majorities in the state legislature and senate passed legislation that would have civilian input into the discipline of police officers, who were typically only under the supervision of superiors within the law enforcement community.
The legislation passed also repealed provisions that allowed police a five-day waiting period before speaking to investigators following up on complaints and the purging of complaints against officers after a specified period of time.
Two other police reform bills were not vetoed by Hogan, per the Post reporting: One puts in place a process to return the Baltimore Police Department to local control for the first time since 1860. The other shifts the investigation of police-involved fatalities from local authorities to an independent unit in the state attorney general’s office and bans police departments from acquiring surplus military equipment.