Gov. Larry Hogan, R, on Friday announced police and public-safety funding proposals, which drew criticism from Democratic members of the Legislature and Baltimore’s mayor.
Hogan proposed $150 million in funding for what he called a “Re-Fund the Police Initiative.”
In summarizing the initiative, Hogan said he wanted funding to address staffing, diversity, community policing, training, and technology.
The package of public safety and police measures would include increases for police compensation and training, aid to local police departments, and restored funding for victims of crimes.
The largest piece of the money would go to $50 million in salary increases and hiring bonuses for officers at state police agencies.
Another portion of the proposed funding would be $45 million in increased aid to police across the state, which Hogan called a 50% increase.
Other parts of the proposal include $24 million for an “Accountability Resources Fund,” which would go toward things like body-worn cameras and de-escalation training, and $10 million in Neighborhood Safety Grants.
Hogan plans to use $14 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to assist victim service providers who receive Victims of Crime Act funding.
President Joe Biden, D, signed a bill to stabilize funding for the Crime Victims Fund earlier this year.
The fund saw decreased revenues as the federal government moved toward deferred prosecution agreements and other mechanisms that would not traditionally have led to money for the fund.
Hogan’s other proposals will likely be part of the budget he presents to the Legislature in January.
In a statement Capital News Service received Friday, Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore, supported the idea of investing in increased trust of law enforcement and greater public safety.
“We also know, however, that police are just one part of creating safe communities,” Ferguson wrote. “Genuinely improving public safety isn’t about just writing a bigger check.”
Earlier in the press conference, Hogan criticized leaders in Baltimore City for what he called the area’s high homicide rate.
The Baltimore Police Department reports there have been at least 265 homicides this year.
That’s nearing the 2020 total of 299 reported to the FBI.
“We haven’t seen progress in the statistics on what’s happening in Baltimore City,” Hogan said.
In a statement Friday, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, D, pointed to the complexity of public safety.
“Tackling violence in Baltimore requires vast coordination among state and federal partners, not tactless finger pointing,” Scott wrote.
Hogan also pointed to what he called understaffing in police departments and difficulty hiring in a challenging time for law enforcement.
Hogan called the idea of reducing crime by defunding the police, “dangerous, radical, far-left lunacy.”
Ferguson’s statement seemed to address Hogan’s criticism of the movement to defund police.
“Divisive rhetoric does not make us safer, and we hope the Administration will join us moving forward to focus on problem solving,” Ferguson wrote.
In a tweet Friday, Sen. Will Smith, D-Montgomery, said the issue of police should not be seen as binary.
“We are both grateful for the service of law enforcement and weary from the pain of police brutality,” Smith wrote.
Hogan’s budget proposals would need to pass the Legislature, where Democrats hold a supermajority.
During the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers passed police and criminal justice reforms including greater accessibility for police misconduct records and new policies for investigating deaths in police custody.
The governor said he plans to release further crime and public safety proposals soon.
Also Friday, the Democrats in Maryland’s congressional delegation announced more than $600,000 in funding from the federal Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
The funding is meant to assist with crisis intervention and de-escalation training in four localities in Maryland.
