With the General Assembly headed back to Annapolis, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday a three-year, $500 million public safety initiative and the return of tough on crime bills from previous sessions.
Hogan said he would add details later, but the package includes increased state aid to local police departments, raises and bonuses for police officers, increased neighborhood safety grants, capital improvements to state police facilities and a fund to pay for more body cameras.
He also included “an additional $1 million will go directly to the Maryland chiefs and sheriffs associations to help them further expand operational training and support.”
In addition, Hogan said, he will re-introduce bills to toughen penalties for those who commit crimes with guns, who possess illegal guns and who sell illegal guns to violent criminals and to publicize sentences handed down by judges for violent crimes.
Those bills have passed the Senate previously but stalled in the House.