Brown: What it's doing, it's recognizing that the office of Attorney General with its 850 professionals, lawyers, and non-lawyers, has the experience, the confidence, and the commitment to protect the rights and interests of Marylanders. So the authorities that we sought very much resemble the authorities that my colleagues have in other states. In fact, some may argue that the authority of the Maryland Attorney General, if you rank us one to 50, is on the lower end of the spectrum. Some attorneys general don't even have to go to their legislature for the authority because they have inherent authority in the office.
During its session that wrapped up this week, the Maryland General Assembly greatly expanded the power of the Attorney General’s office.
Three measures in particular achieved the following:
SB290 - Gives the Attorney General’s office the power to prosecute police-involved killings
SB540 - Gives the Attorney General’s office the power to investigate, prosecute, and remediate civil rights violations
SB611/HB874 - Creates the Environment and Natural Resources Monitoring Unit within Maryland Attorney General’s Office to investigate and prosecute crimes against the environment and natural resources
WYPR’s Matt Bush caught up with Attorney General Anthony Brown, who was just elected in November 2022, in the busy statehouse halls to discuss what his office will now be able to do.
Bush: Let's talk a bit about some of the things your office now has the power to do. One is prosecuting police-involved killings. That was one of the few bills that actually had some Democratic pushback. So now that this power is within your office, tell us about it and tell us why your office is the right one to have it.
Brown: Two years ago the Maryland General Assembly recognized and they passed in law, the authority for the Attorney General to independently investigate police-involved shootings. The natural evolution of that best practice? If you're going to ask the Attorney General to independently investigate, the Attorney General should also independently prosecute where the evidence suggests, or warrants, I should say, prosecution. It's a best practice. Most states that have independent investigation authority with the Attorney General also have given the Attorney General the authority to prosecute. So we think the General Assembly made a step in the right direction. They've given me the resources to go along with that authority. We're gonna stand up a unit and come October 1st, we will have the exclusive authority to make the decisions about whether to prosecute law enforcement when there's a police involved shooting. Our goal, our objective is not to prosecute. Our goal and objective is to build confidence among the community in law enforcement and through greater independence and transparency and accountability, I think we'll be able to do just that.
Bush: Why your office? And why not State's Attorneys?
Brown: State's attorneys work day in and day out with law enforcement and they have what some would consider a very close, in some cases, cozy relationship. The community, when they see that, it often raises doubts about whether the local prosecutor can impartially investigate and make a decision to prosecute a police officer. No one is suggesting that it's an improper relationship, but what we're trying to do here is to instill greater confidence within the community about the integrity of both the investigation and the prosecution.
Bush: Your office also now has the power to investigate civil rights violations. Take us through that.
Brown: Civil Rights enforcement authority, 21 Attorneys General around the country already have that authority. Thinking about the federal government, the Department of Justice has the authority to bring civil rights lawsuits, as do many agencies within the federal government in Maryland, until we passed this law. After the governor signs this bill within the next few weeks, the Maryland Civil Rights Commission can bring civil rights claims or you can bring your claim now to the Attorney General. So whether it's discrimination based on race, or sexual orientation, or gender identification in housing or employment or in the marketplace. I think about things like redlining. The Attorney General, we will now have the authority to enforce civil rights laws, federal and state on behalf of the people of Maryland.
Bush: You mentioned the U.S. Department of Justice and its powers and a lot of what passed this year seems to be turning your office into a Maryland version of that. Would you agree with that or not?
Brown: What it's doing, it's recognizing that the office of Attorney General with its 850 professionals, lawyers, and non-lawyers, has the experience, the confidence, and the commitment to protect the rights and interests of Marylanders. So the authorities that we sought very much resemble the authorities that my colleagues have in other states. In fact, some may argue that the authority of the Maryland Attorney General, if you rank us one to 50, is on the lower end of the spectrum. Some attorneys general don't even have to go to their legislature for the authority because they have inherent authority in the office.
