St. Mary's County oversight board reviews PERF study on Maryland Police Accountability Act, flags data and cost gaps

St. Mary's County Police Accountability Board members reviewed a Phase 2 study from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) on Aug. 21, 2025, that examined how the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021 (PAA) has been implemented across the state and identified inconsistent data, unclear statutory definitions and significant fiscal strain tied to trial boards.

Board Chairman Nick Cromwell opened the new-business discussion by introducing the PERF report, which PERF designed to answer whether officers are charged and disciplined more often under the PAA versus the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights (LEOBR), whether disciplinary outcomes are more severe, whether trial boards are more likely to sustain charges and whether existing timelines and resources allow Administrative Charging Committees (ACCs) to meet statutory deadlines.

John Houser, county deputy attorney, who summarized PERF's Phase 2 findings for the board, said, “the data that PERF came up with was spotty and inconsistent at best.” Houser described key caveats PERF flagged: jurisdictions record different event types, use different names and classifications for allegations and outcomes, and many PAA cases remained unresolved in the dataset PERF received. Houser said PERF excluded Baltimore City as…