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Police Accountability Board reports more public complaints after outreach campaign, seeks sustained reporting from agencies
Summary
The Police Accountability Board (PAB) told the County Council committee that complaints rose after a recent outreach campaign using bus and metro advertising, and that the board is seeking better, regular data submissions from law enforcement to track internal investigations and field inquiries.
The Prince George’s County Police Accountability Board reported a rise in complaints and outlined outreach activity and budget figures during the Health, Human Services and Public Safety Committee’s FY26 agency reviews.
Anthony Bennett, Inspector General, introduced the Police Accountability Board as the OICPA’s public-facing unit. Program administrator Ebony Rawls and policy analyst Crystal Loughini joined Bennett at the table for the presentation.
Malcolm Moody, OMB budget analyst, told the committee the PAB’s total proposed FY26 budget is $911,300, a decrease of $225,100 from FY25; the general fund portion is $785,500 and was unchanged from FY25. The PAB’s proposed positions are five.
Rawls said the PAB produced 141 complaint filings in 2024 (up from 104 in 2023) and had received 49 complaints so far in the current reporting period cited to the committee. She said 77% of 2024 complaints — 109 of 141 — were associated with the Prince George’s County Police Department. Intake methods were predominantly online (about 72%) followed by email (13%), mail (6%), forwarded by agencies (6%) and in person (3%).
Rawls described a community awareness campaign funded by grants: $110,000 from a community grant and $115,000 from a PAC grant. The PAC-funded campaign included advertising on 40 Metro buses and digital displays at Metro stations, and Rawls said the advertisements corresponded with a 10% spike in complaints in March and a subsequent 25% increase in average monthly complaints.
Rawls also said the board is now at a full complement of 11 members after the March 11, 2025, appointment of Stephanie Maxwell. She reported PAB outreach such as National Night Out and a March community podcast with the Memorial Library System and Office of Human Rights, and said the board launched an anonymous community feedback survey to gather public input on law enforcement interactions and PAB awareness.
Council member Oriaba asked about a recommendation to amend CB 21-22 so agencies submit monthly written reports. Rawls said there is currently no facility to submit that information to the PAB and that the board wants not only complaint counts but information on internal investigations and field inquiries so the board can track trends; she supported conversations about mandatory reporting requirements.
Ending: Council members asked PAB staff for proposed reporting parameters and said they will explore making some training recommendations mandatory. Rawls said PAB materials and surveys are available in Spanish and that PAB staff and board members will work with the county’s Latino Affairs liaison and other partners to expand non-English outreach.
