October 24, 2021
(Also published as Greenbelt News Review Letter to the Editor, October 28, 2021, page 4. )
Mayor Colin Byrd, Mayor Pro Tem Emmett Jordan, and Council Members J Davis, Silke Pope, Leta Mach, Ed Putens, and Rodney Roberts; City Manager Nicole Ard:
Request: Stop Undermining Public Safety in Greenbelt: Adopt Police Reform General Orders Revisions Without Delay
Mayor Byrd first proposed reforms for the Greenbelt Police Department in August of 2020 to rethink what public safety and policing mean in Greenbelt, especially for People of Color. Since then, the proposals have been extensively discussed at numerous Council meetings and work sessions. The Public Safety Advisory Committee thoroughly reviewed the proposals over several months and on May 5, 2021, recommended specific changes to Greenbelt Police Department general orders corresponding to the Mayor’s proposals, also adding new recommendations for changes. The PSAC Report and Recommendations were discussed at a July 14, 2021, Council work session. At the most recent work session on the reforms three weeks ago, on Monday, October 4, Council appeared to signal support for general orders revisions.
These police general orders updates were on the agenda for the Council meeting two weeks ago, on Monday, October 11. Councilmember Davis appeared to be the only one prepared with feedback on specific orders, and had worked through ten specific clarifications and revisions, accepted as friendly amendments by Mayor Byrd.
After some further discussion, including comments from Chief Bowers, Councilmember Pope — who had earlier indicated that she would vote against this item — surprisingly moved to table discussion so Council could go over all this again, “paragraph by paragraph” and “line by line” at yet another Council meeting or work session. Sadly, Councilmembers Jordan, Mach, and Putens voted with Pope, which killed any further work on this item for this meeting and for this Council, delaying a next vote for at least a month and perhaps longer. Councilmembers Byrd, Davis, and Roberts voted against the motion to table.
Council does not need more months to do their homework to figure out how to vote on these important updates to general orders. By this point, they each should have clear positions for each of the general orders changes. The Council and PSAC have already received substantial public comment since the fall of 2020.
Eighteen months after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, the Greenbelt City Council has yet to enact any police reforms, despite their promise to evaluate policing in Greenbelt. These limited reforms are a bare minimum toward establishing a broader view of public safety in Greenbelt.
Pass these general orders updates without further delay!
Sincerely, Greenbelt Racial Equity Alliance