Maryland’s Senate today voted unanimously to approve legislation requiring the Baltimore Police Department to review the boundaries of its nine districts, as well as the allocation of resources and officers for each one, after the census every 10 years.
Sen. Cory McCray (D-45th District) sponsored the bill, which received co-sponsorship from Sens. Mary Washington (43rd) and Jill Carter (41st) earlier this week. It passed this morning 45-0.
A companion bill in the House of Delegates sponsored by his 45th District colleague Del. Stephanie Smith was read in committee this week, but doesn’t have a full vote scheduled.
McCray lauded the bill’s passage, telling Baltimore Fishbowl that BPD’s districts haven’t been redrawn since the late 1950s, when the Southeast District was formed. This legislation would require that BPD take stock of each district’s population after every census—the next one is scheduled for 2020—as well as the number of service calls received, response times and other data to be determined by the city’s police commissioner, and then set a plan to redraw boundaries or allocate personnel and resources accordingly.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
