Yanet Amanuel is public coverage director of the ACLU of Maryland.
Maryland
Opinion | Maryland police reform is far from over
![Opinion | Maryland police reform is far from over Opinion | Maryland police reform is far from over](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/DSYJ3WG73II6ZLTENMR6KFK3MI.jpg&w=1440)
In 2021, Democratic leaders within the Maryland Home and Senate pledged to repeal the notorious Regulation Enforcement Officers Invoice of Rights (LEOBR) and provides the neighborhood a extra important position in police self-discipline. Nevertheless, the invoice to switch the LEOBR was watered down by amendments pushed by the FOP over the objections of neighborhood members, advocates and allied legislators. The amendments included requiring that inside police trial boards preserve closing decision-making energy and, worst of all, stripping exterior neighborhood oversight boards of the power to conduct unbiased investigations, difficulty subpoenas and have closing decision-making powers. Moreover, the implementation of native Police Accountability Boards (PABs) in each county and Baltimore Metropolis, as mandated by the Maryland Police Accountability Act (MPAA) of 2021, additional proves that police unions exert quite a lot of energy and affect over the brand new disciplinary course of.
For instance, though the brand new MPAA explicitly prohibits lively cops from serving on the Police Accountability Board, many native jurisdictions handed payments to permit or require former cops to serve on the boards. Moreover, almost each jurisdiction included bans stopping Marylanders who had been previously incarcerated and non-U.S. residents from serving on the board. This strategy deliberately exacerbates racial disparities as a result of Black and Brown individuals are shamefully overrepresented within the felony authorized system. It additionally sends the message that some individuals are certified to have a say in policing and others — satirically these most affected — should not. Because of this, many Police Accountability Boards throughout the state is not going to symbolize communities routinely harassed and harmed by police misconduct. Nevertheless, due to strong neighborhood organizing efforts, jurisdictions similar to Prince George’s County and Baltimore Metropolis eliminated a few of these provisions from these closing payments.
Furthermore, a neighborhood oversight board is just as robust as its authority to conduct unbiased investigations, which is why it issues that no PAB within the state has obtained investigatory powers. In reality, in Prince George’s County, certainly one of solely two jurisdictions within the state with an unbiased neighborhood oversight board, the brand new PAB is an enormous step backward for neighborhood management. The earlier Residents’ Complaints Oversight Panel (CCOP) was established in 1990 in response to a high-profile police killing. Then between 1990 and 2001, Prince George’s County police killed extra residents per officer than almost any of the nation’s 50 largest metropolis and county regulation enforcement companies, 84 % of whom had been Black. Because of neighborhood outrage and organizing over the rampant police shootings, the CCOP was given subpoena powers and the authority to conduct concurrent and subsequent investigations into complaints in 2001. Sadly, the CCOP has been toothless due to underfunding, limitations with the now-repealed LEOBR and the truth that the county government managed CCOP membership.
Mistrust in police is fueled by prevailing public opinion that police departments don’t sufficiently maintain officers accountable for misconduct. Many Prince Georgians really feel the identical method — and with good purpose. The latest explosive Graham Report detailed how the Prince George’s County Police Division did not conduct investigations or completely examine police misconduct claims — each inside complaints and complaints made by the general public. In reality, inside affairs has by no means sustained a racial profiling grievance.
But, as an alternative of getting police accountability proper, the Prince George’s County Council opted to switch the CCOP with a Police Accountability Board that solely displays complaints. This transfer signifies that Prince George’s County may have a weaker system of police accountability than it did earlier than the LEOBR repeal. This can be a prime instance of how native elected officers, together with Democrats who will speak concerning the want for police accountability, actively work with the FOP to additional undermine neighborhood management.
Moreover, Maryland Democrats’ failure to determine correct neighborhood oversight and maintain police accountable for misconduct considerably undermines their efforts to deal with public questions of safety and shield the lives and high quality of lifetime of Black and Brown Marylanders. Lack of belief within the police signifies that neighborhood members, particularly these from over-policed communities, are much less more likely to cooperate with the police in apprehending perpetrators of violence.
Our problem is to lastly overcome the overwhelming affect of police unions in order that Black and Brown individuals are shielded from police violence and communities are safer for everybody. Legislators should totally decide to centering neighborhood oversight in police accountability to make that optimistic imaginative and prescient a actuality.
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Maryland
Maryland Native Wins $85,000 on ‘Name That Tune’ – The MoCo Show
![Maryland Native Wins ,000 on ‘Name That Tune’ – The MoCo Show Maryland Native Wins ,000 on ‘Name That Tune’ – The MoCo Show](https://s44899.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG_1702.jpeg)
Entertainment
Proud Montgomery County, MD resident Gavriella Kaufmann (Potomac) won her episode of FOX’s game show “Name that Tune”, which aired last week.
Kaufmann, who was born and raised in Potomac and graduated from Churchill High School in 2015, stated in an interview with FOX 5, that she has always been into music and referred to herself as a music and game show savant. When she saw an ad on LinkedIn about being on season 4 of the game show, she immediately knew she had to do it.
“I’ve loved game shows for as long as I can remember, and music has always been a huge part of my life. Being on Name That Tune was the perfect combination of both passions—it was like a dream come true.” Kaufmann told us.
The episode had a happy ending, with Kaufmann winning a whopping $85,000! She added, “When I was on Name That Tune, I was so focused on doing my best and naming as many songs as possible that I completely lost track of the score. It wasn’t until Jane, the host, told me my total. I was in complete shock, but it was such an incredible moment!”
Maryland
Michigan State football opens as sizable underdog vs Maryland
![Michigan State football opens as sizable underdog vs Maryland Michigan State football opens as sizable underdog vs Maryland](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4256,h_2394,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/137/01j6q8yb7r3y04b36mbn.jpg)
Who’s ready for Big Ten play to begin? In all honesty, I am not. I really wish Michigan State football had more tune-up games after seeing them struggle against Florida Atlantic and only win 16-10. But unfortunately, that is not how the schedule unfolds for Michigan State this season.
The Spartans will hit the road for an early Big Ten game as they face Maryland on Saturday at 3:30 pm. Going into the season I thought Michigan State and the Terps were on a pretty level playing field, but after seeing both teams play week one that doesn’t appear to be the case.
And Vegas agrees.
Michigan State opens as a 7.5-point underdog next week at Maryland. My guess is that grows to 8, 8.5.
— Graham Couch (@Graham_Couch) September 1, 2024
As you all know, Michigan State only beat Florida Atlantic by six and did not look very impressive, especially on the offensive side of the ball. So it’s no surprise that MSU will be the underdog next week. But 7.5 points feels like a lot, and according to the Lansing State Journal’s Graham Couch, it likely will only go up from there.
So does Vegas have it right or are they underrating Michigan State?
Looking at Maryland’s week one game against UConn it appears Vegas has this line right. The Terps were up 23-0 at halftime and never looked back and went on to win in dominant fashion 50-7. UConn and FAU are very similar in terms of what level they’re at in college football, so that drastic of a difference in the final score is very scary.
So Vegas probably could’ve gotten away with Maryland being even bigger favorites in this one.
But maybe Vegas saw what I did and thinks a lot of Michigan State’s mistakes on Friday are easy to fix. Maybe they think Aidan Chiles will be much better next week. The Spartan’s defense was also fairly dominant so there isn’t much of a chance Maryland scores 50 points next week either.
I tend to not bet on Michigan State games, but even if I did this would be a line that I would avoid because who knows how much Jonathan Smith’s squad will improve by next week, and who knows how much Maryland might struggle against a Power Four opponent.
Maryland
University of Maryland reverses decision to allow anti-Israel protest on October 7
The University of Maryland on Sunday reversed its decision to allow an anti-Israel protest on the first anniversary of the October 7 Massacre, following backlash from local Jewish groups.
UMD Students for Justice in Palestine and UMD Jewish Voice for Peace had been set to hold their October 7 vigil for Gazans killed in the Israel-Hamas War at the campus’s Mckeldin Mall, but the University System of Maryland (USM) said in a statement that on the day of the Hamas-led pogrom it would limit campus events requiring permits or approval to those supporting “a university-sponsored Day of Dialogue.”
“From the beginning of the war, we have come together as a University System to urge that we use this moment to encourage conversation, compassion, and civility; to engage with one another across our differences and draw on our shared humanity and our shared values to bridge what divides us,” said USM. “These dialogues aren’t new. Many of our universities have been hosting this kind of programming for several months. Reserving Oct. 7 gives us a chance to continue these urgent conversations and to mark this solemn anniversary in a way that gives students—all students—the time and space to share and to be heard.”
USM said that its intent was not to infringe of the free expression and speech of students, but to be sensitive to the needs of students as October 7 was a “day of enormous suffering and grief for many in our campus communities.”
UMD Jewish Student Union, Maryland Hillel, Terps for Israel, and Israeli American Council Mishelanu at Maryland welcomed the USM decision and thanked UMD leadership in a joint social media statement on Sunday.
“October 7, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, is a day of mourning for the Jewish and Israeli community,” said the UMD JSU. “We are relieved that SJP will no longer to be able to appropriate the suffering of our family and friends to fit their false and dangerous narrative.”
The Jewish groups said that it was distraught that the decision to only hold university-sponsored event had to be made at all, and wished to used the campus space to “grieve together as a community” to promote unity at the university. The unideal situation was necessary, according to the Jewish groups, to ensure the physical and psychological safety of students on the day of mourning.
UMD JVP and SJP attacked the decision to cancel the event, claiming that the vigil for Palestinians killed since the October 7 Massacre was attacked without familiarity of the content. The anti-Israel groups said that the discourse was “the continuation inherently racist, Islamophobic, and dehumanizing rhetoric surrounding Palestinians.” JVP and SJP said that the actions against their event were an attempt to paint “Muslim, Arab, and anti-Zionist Jewish students as barbaric.”
The anti-Israel groups asserted that their vigil for Palestinians who died in the war was no threat to the campus’s Jewish community, but conflation of Zionism and Judaism did threaten UMD and the Jewish community.
“To claim that Palestinians cannot hold a day of remembrance in mourning one year of genocide, or lay claim to that date is an insult to every life lost in the Zionist entity’s genocidal campaign,” UMD SJP and JVP said on Instagram on Sunday. “The disproportionate scale of suffering experienced by the Palestinians over the past year necessitates their remembrance and our solidarity on this day. The suffering of all innocents killed must not be monopolized and necessitates a fair and just representation.”
SJP and JVP demanded the right to organize and exercise their right to free speech, accusing Zionists of attempting to stifle Palestinian voices.
The organizations indicated on their Sunday Instagram post that they still planned to hold their all-day event at Mckeldin Mall, and on Monday a link to register still active and listing the campus building as the rally location.
UMD Jewish groups said that they would be holding their own event to memorialize the victims of the October 7 pogrom at the Maryland Hillel.
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