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Baltimore County HRC presses for better hate-bias data, seeks police and state contacts
Summary
Commissioners reviewed monthly hate-bias reporting, discussed gaps in data and directed staff to establish points of contact and standard procedures with the Baltimore County Police Department and state agencies to improve data sharing and build a county database of incidents.
Commissioners on the Baltimore County Family Human Relations Commission discussed gaps in county hate-bias reporting at their first 2025 meeting and directed staff to work with law enforcement and state agencies to obtain more timely data.
David Skinner, program manager for the commission, said the county has not yet received December data and that the most recent report available showed nine incidents for November. “We haven't received any reports for December as of yet. The latest reports for November, we had 9 reported for the month of November,” Skinner said.
Skinner told commissioners the office is working to establish designated points of contact and standard operating procedures with the Baltimore County Police Department, the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, Baltimore County Public Schools and the Maryland Attorney General’s Office to ensure consistent access to incident data and allow the commission to build its own database of hate- and bias-related reports. He identified March Bell as the police department’s DEI representative who will serve as a point of contact.
Commissioners asked the staff to invite the Baltimore County Police Department to present to the commission and to share dates for public meetings of the county’s police accountability task force so commissioners can observe the work. Staff said the county has a separate police accountability task force addressing disproportionate policing and prosecution; Skinner described that work as ongoing.
During the discussion staff provided additional figures from recent reporting: an approximate total of 55 incidents in 2024 and about 259 reported bias-related crimes across the 2022–2024 period. Staff said it will follow up to request disaggregated details (for example, incident location or month-by-month trends) when those data were not included in the monthly report.
The commission also discussed updating its public reporting landing page and adding a bias-reporting feature to the county site to make it easier for residents to submit and track reports. Staff said those web updates and database work are planned for 2025 with county IT support.
No formal vote was taken. Staff captured the direction to establish points of contact, develop standard operating procedures for data sharing and seek a police-department presentation at a future meeting.
