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Baltimore County ACC to start reporting precinct origins in quarterly PAB reports; members discuss publishing redacted opinions
Summary
The Baltimore County Administrative Charging Committee agreed to begin including the precinct or division origin of complaints in quarterly Police Accountability Board (PAB) reports starting Jan. 1, 2026, and debated publishing redacted written opinions online after legal and IT review.
The Baltimore County Administrative Charging Committee voted on Oct. 25 to begin reporting the precinct or division where an accused officer worked as part of quarterly Police Accountability Board reports, with the change to take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
An ACC member relayed the PABrequest and asked that the precinct or division be included so the board could see where complaints are originating. "I would request that if we start including that, that'd be after the first of the year because I don't want the percentages to be skewed," the member said, arguing a delayed start would avoid distorting annual summaries.
Committee members discussed additional data fields. One member urged caution about publishing rank or years of experience, saying those details could make it possible to identify accused officers. Members agreed rank posed privacy and identifiability concerns and concluded it was not feasible to publish rank as a regular field.
Staff reported that Internal Affairs (IA) had indicated it can include a standardized precinct/division field in its reporting. "Once it's finalized on this end, then we can move to them and try and figure out a format," staff said. Members asked staff to confirm the format with IA and to return with a plan for the quarterly sheet.
Separately, an ACC member proposed publishing redacted written opinions on the ACC website to improve transparency and trust. "I do think it will be important to start publishing redacted opinions on our website if we're able to," the member said, noting other jurisdictions provide summaries in annual reports. Members expressed no formal objections to the idea but said posting would require legal review and coordination with IT before any documents are made public.
The ACC also agreed that precinct/division reporting should include non-charged cases as quarterly totals rather than itemized case-level public postings, to balance transparency with privacy concerns.
The committee did not adopt a final posting policy during the meeting; staff were directed to confirm technical and legal details and report back.
