Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation of alleged racial discrimination in hiring and promotion practices within the Maryland State Police department.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement the investigation “will determine whether the Maryland Department of State Police has created racially discriminatory barriers for Black people seeking job opportunities and promotions.”
She also said it would “identify the reforms necessary to ensure equal employment opportunities.”
The investigation comes after years of complaints from Black troopers about unfair hiring and discipline practices and claims of an uneven playing field.
Superintendent Woodrow Jones was summoned before a State Senate committee during the General Assembly’s 2021 session to answer questions.
Last month, State Police said they had determined an offensive “challenge coin” depicting the female anatomy was created by a former employee. Discovery of the coin had led to criticism from the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers and the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, who charged it reflected badly on the agency’s culture.
Clark Ahlers, a lawyer in Columbia, says he has had four cases with the state police department in the last five years where he thought “race was probably the most significant factor in the case, for the reason these troopers were mistreated by their own agency.”
In one case, he said, a Black trooper was accused of assault after he followed his supervisors orders on an arrest. The trooper was eventually acquitted, Ahlers said. In another case, a Black trooper filed a complaint after white troopers left a banana on his car with a note it was his lunch.
Those cases and others, Ahler said, are part of a pattern that “ought to disturb anybody,” he said.
“And to put this in perspective, I'm just one lawyer, working cases that come through the door to me,” he continued. “This is hardly every case the state police handle, but I hear the same thing from other troopers about other cases.”
Superintendent Jones said in a statement today he was notified of the investigation and pledged the department’s full cooperation.
He said the department already has taken “significant action” to address the complaints and will continue to do so, “working with the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers, the Legislative Black Caucus, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, the Maryland State Police Office of Equity and Inclusion and other stakeholders.”
“I have implemented new procedures and initiatives, opened new lines of communication and hired subject matter experts, all for the purpose of ensuring the Department addresses these issues and is a law enforcement leader in these matters,” he said.
