Trainer tells Calvert PAB to treat ACC as backward-looking and PAB as forward-looking

Wayne Silver, executive director of the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission, told the Calvert County Police Accountability Board that the ACC and the PAB have distinct functions: "The ACC's responsibility is to look backwards ... The PAB's role is to look forward" and identify patterns that suggest policy changes.

Silver advised the board to receive non-identifying outcome summaries from the ACC — for example, the complaint type, ACC decision and recommendation — rather than redacted investigative files. He said redactions can remove needed context and that a simple spreadsheet or verbal briefing often gives the PAB what it needs to perform oversight functions without seeing private details about complainants or officers.

Silver gave examples to clarify the dividing line: if many closed cases show discourteous behavior, "perhaps the issue ... is we have to do something about the communication" and the PAB can recommend training or policy updates. He also recommended returning files to the agency for additional information when the ACC uncovers potential misconduct not covered in the investigative file, noting that returning a case pauses and restarts the ACC's 30-day review clock.

Board members pressed on practicalities — what counts as an outcome, what context can be shared, and how to avoid overreach — and Silver stressed partnership over confrontation when advancing policy recommendations. "This shouldn't be confrontational. This should be a partnership," he said.

The board received Silver's guidance as a framework for how to revise its communications with the ACC and sheriff's office and asked staff to incorporate the approach into future briefings for commissioners.