The Baltimore County Police Accountability Board (PAB)... Isn't.

And the County Council can do something about it!

At the November 17, 2025 County Council meeting, Catonsville resident (and District 1 Police Accountability Board member) Pete Fitzpatrick asked the councilmembers to take action. His testimony:

Mr. Chairman, members of the county council, my name is Pete Fitzpatrick. I am the member representing District 1 on the Baltimore County Police Accountability Board. I have been on the board since its inception. As no individual member of the PAB may speak for the board as a whole, my words here today represent my own opinion and the request I make is from me on behalf of the citizens I represent on the board.

I come before you tonight to ask that the County Council revisit its 2022 decision not to provide the Police Accountability Board and the Administrative Charging Committee with independent legal counsel. Currently, the PAB and the ACC are provided legal counsel from the county’s Office of Law.

In 2022 the council chose this option despite being entreated by police accountability advocates to provide the board with independent legal counsel. My understanding is that the council chose this route as a cost-saving measure. I suppose it made a certain sense. The board needed a lawyer and the office of law had lawyers. It was worth a try, but, in application, I feel it has worked against transparency in law enforcement and has resulted in a disservice to the public.

I am not here to question the integrity of the Office of Law’s lawyers, nor am I concerned about their competence, per se. That having been said, any number of saints, poets, and writers of prose had given the warning that a man can’t serve two masters, and this case is no exception to that caution The Office of Law has an obligation to protect the county government from liability and, by extension, the county’s political leadership from controversy. This obligation is largely incompatible with the goals of equitable policing.

Law enforcement accountability to independent civilian authority is new ground. Almost everything in it is untested and new. In many ways, implementing the mechanisms of accountability the public and the law demands is a bit like trying to build a plane and fly it at the same time. In this case that means some actions taken by a police accountability board might need to be tested in court. Put simply, we can’t know if the plane will fly without pushing the throttle forward and pulling on the stick.

The counsel provided by the Office of Law, with its split obligation, just doesn’t have the stomach for this. They know the best way to avoid losing in court is to never get called to the bar. That serves to protect the county, sure, but it also guarantees that no progress will be made and policing in Baltimore County will never grow in accountability and equity,

I have a couple of examples.

The PAB currently doesn’t see the complaints the come to it. Complaints come to the board and are forwarded to the police department without review by the PAB. The PAB took up this question and received advice from the OAL that it doesn’t have the right to see complaints that come to it. Do I need to say that again – usually I need to say that more than once for people to believe it.
Imagine my surprise in the recent Baltimore Banner article that reference a complaint about an officer whose traffic stops were 89% Black drivers in a county where Black people are a third of the population. Frankly, it was embarrassing to know this complaint was made to the board but was never seen by it.

Two weeks ago, the ACC took up three requests for information from the PAB. All the information requested would be available to the public after going through the tortuous MPIA process. The goal of the PAB was to get this information regularly and publish it where the public could more easily access it. After receiving advice from the OOL counsel, two of the requests failed on a vote. The third motion did not receive a second.

The PAB needs legal counsel that will look on options and make recommendations based on what works for equitable policing – not what might be challenged.

I’m not looking to shop for an answer that I like. I just need to be able to tell the public that the legal advice on which the PAB acts is free from external pressure or conflicting obligation. I don’t see how I can do that with the current structure. It’s unfair to the lawyers of the office of law to try to serve two masters, and it does a disservice to the interests of the public in seeking accountable and equitable policing.

Thank you.

The Baltimore County PAB holds quarterly meetings; all are open to the public. Anyone may attend and testify virtually or in-person. The next PAB meeting is Monday, December 15 at 12 noon.

📌Sign up for more information about the December PAB meeting here.

✍🏽Ask your councilman to amend the PAB legislation to include Independent Counsel, as suggested by police accountability advocates since 2021, after the passage of HB0670, the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021.

Background:

How ‘driving while Black’ persists in Baltimore County. Baltimore Banner, October 27, 2025.

Empower Strong and Independent Police Accountability Boards. ACLU/Maryland, October 28, 2025.

Baltimore County’s Police Accountability Board is having an identity crisis. Baltimore Banner, May 14, 2025.

Legal gray areas hinder police watchdogs. Maryland Matters, May 28, 2024.

The General Assembly Overrode Hogan’s Vetoes of Police Reform Bills. Maryland Matters, April 10, 2021.