[Sound of busy street, police sirens] TAWANDA JONES: So, first of all, I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and any victim, family of police brutality, murder, you can feel free to come up here.

So, um as you know, this is West Wednesday.

This is week 405, day 2,835.

TAWANDA: It began when my brother was murdered.

My brother, Tyrone West, was brutally murdered on July 18th, 2013.

He was beat to death in broad daylight.

[Music crescendos] ♪ ♪ TAWANDA: We immediately started something called West Wednesday.

Immediately we was out in the street, we were demanding accountability.

We know that there's no statution limit on murder.

And as long as I know that we're going to keep on fighting.

We can't stop.

GROUP: [Responding] We can't stop.

TAWANDA: We won't stop.

GROUP: We won't stop.

TAWANDA: Until killer cops... GROUP: Until killer cops... TAWANDA: ...are in cell blocks.

GROUP: ...are in cell blocks.

[Horns honking] [Police sirens, street noise, cars driving by] TAWANDA: It just makes me think about how crappy the system is.

Because something that I thought wouldn't take no more than maybe two or three years.

It seems like it's taking now, going on a decade.

[People chanting] TAWANDA: Say his name.

GROUP: Tyrone West.

TAWANDA: Say his name.

GROUP: Tyrone West.

TAWANDA: Say his name.

GROUP: Tyrone West.

[Sound of paper tearing] [Street noise, police sirens] STATE SENATOR JILL CARTER: Law enforcement officers are the only persons that have a legal right to kill.

And with that right that they have, there's a great amount of responsibility that should go along with it.

But it doesn't.

[Dramatic drone like string music] SEN.

CARTER: Early in my career as a lawyer, I worked in the Office of the Public Defender, and that's where I really began to see a lot of really horrific things.

Every client is saying the same thing.

I had more money than that.

That's not the truth.

They threatened.

They lied.

This was a regular thing in the '90s.

This happens every day.

It hasn't changed.

Police are still not reformed.

I've been in the Maryland Senate for two years.

But prior to that, I was in the House of Delegates for many years.

The legislature, our fatal flaw is that we've forgotten somewhere that we govern law enforcement.

We have allowed law enforcement to govern us and govern themselves.

WILL SMITH: Next bill, Senator Carter, you're up.

Senate bill 627.

The floor is yours.

SEN.

CARTER: You know, we govern all kinds of other industry and entities, but for law enforcement, they're allowed to walk in and tell the Speaker and the Senate President this is what we will and will not do.

This is what we will and will not stand for.

Even though their actions were hurting people and costing us lots of money.

[Police siren] [Sound of door creaking] COMMISSIONER MICHAEL HARRISON: I was hired to do a job.

I moved my family and my life across the country to do this, and I am committed to making sure we transform this department.

But there are barriers to arriving at that.

ALISSA FIGUEROA: Hello.

COMMISSIONER HARRISON: Hi.

ALISSA: How are you?

COMMISSIONER HARRISON: Morning, everybody.

Good.

ALISSA: Alissa COMMISSIONER HARRISON: Nice to meet you.

Think about Minneapolis, that incident with George Floyd, that chief was able to fire those employees in real time.

NEWSCASTER: Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired after the death of a Black man during a traffic stop on Monday.

COMMISSIONER HARRISON: In Baltimore, while I would have been able to perhaps suspend them, certainly I would not have been able to terminate them.

[Eerie music continues] COMMISSIONER HARRISON: In Maryland we have one of the strongest police officers bill of rights.

And I think there are barriers within that bill of rights that do not allow me to be able to make executive decisions in real time on discipline, even when the actions are extremely horrendous.

And so, no, I can't guarantee that officers who are bad actors violating the law and violating major policies will be removed from the department without this law change and without major reforms in the police department.

[Sound of police car driving by] LAWRENCE GRANDPRE: Maryland has this constellation of laws that make it so that even when a police officer does wrongdoing, they don't fear getting fired.

There is this weird alphabet soup bill called the LEOBR- The Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.

MALE POLICE OFFICER: Prior to the start of this statement, you were provided your Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.

Do you understand those rights?

2ND MALE POLICE OFFICER: Yes, sir, DAVID ROCAH: First thing that the LEOBR does is it limits who can investigate officers.

The LEOBR says that the only people who can investigate a police officer when it might lead to job consequences, discipline, is another police officer.

MALE POLICE OFFICER: This interview is being conducted by detective sergeant... 3RD MALE POLICE OFFICER: This interview is being conducted by lieutenant chief... 4TH MALE POLICE OFFICER: This interview was conducted by detective sergeant... DAVID: And then, it sets up delays on when an officer can even be interviewed about an incident.

[Applause] DAVID: And then, most importantly, police chiefs in Maryland are deprived of the ability to discipline an officer unless and until that officer has first been convicted in a mini trial called a hearing board by other officers.

♪ ♪ LAWRENCE: This trial board, you have the internal affairs on one side, who is basically saying this cop should be fired at the behest of the police chief, and the police union on the other side, who has a lot of resources and is defending the officer.

So it's literally the police versus the police adjudicated by the police.

POLICE TRAINER: When you came on this job, it was a choice.

You wanted to wear that shield.

We're that line between chaos and civility.

We gotta hold that line at all times.

FEMALE POLICE OFFICER: I do swear... GROUP OF POLICE OFFICERS: Do swear... FEMALE POLICE OFFICER: That I will support the constitution, GROUP OF POLICE OFFICERS: That I will support the constitution, FEMALE POLICE OFFICER: Of the United States.

GROUP OF POLICE OFFICERS: Of the United States.

COMMISSIONER HARRISON: I suspect that officers, out of friendship and loyalty to one another, don't want to see another officer's career negatively impacted.

And so, I've seen that in my short time here, where it's been a clear violation, and then the trial board made up of the officer's peers overturns it.

And so, that sends the wrong message that you can commit a violation and still get away with it.

And it sends an even worse message to the community that we would overlook evidence and rule against evidence, even when it's right there before our very eyes, which is exactly why communities don't trust police departments, even when we claim to be doing the right things.

[Chatter of conversation] [Background music from a radio or stereo appears be playing] [Sound of meat sizzling on a BBQ grill] TAWANDA: The first year the support really wasn't there.

But then, as we kept going, then the community started coming around my family.

MAN: He's coming into the movement now, after Dey passed.

TAWANDA: Oh, okay...wow.

MAN: And I was just letting him know about how the movement works.

TAWANDA: Protest without purpose means nothing.

If I was just to sit there and throw three billion West Wednesdays, none of that means nothing unless these laws get changed.

[Sounds of children playing] All you have to do is get rid of this officer bill of rights.

It's their big security blanket.

We'll start seeing changes immediately once they get rid of um, those of officer bill of rights.

[Children laughing] WILL SMITH: Alright, Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to the Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Today, we are going to deal exclusively with the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.

So, Senator Carter will present the legislation.

Senator Carter, the floor is yours.

SEN.

CARTER: The foundation of public safety at the very core of it is trust between people and police.

One of the ways that we restore that is that we determine that as a matter of policy in the state of Maryland, we will no longer endorse a two-tiered system, one set of bill of rights for everyone, and another specific set of bill of rights for law enforcement.

MICHAEL DAVEY: Good afternoon, Senator.

Uh, as you know, my name is Michael Davey, and I'm general counsel to the Maryland State Fraternal Order of Police.

I would just simply add that while the FOP has concerns over some of the sections of this bill, we are ready and willing to have meaningful conversation with your committee to discuss possible amendments and other ideas.

Thank you.

LAWRENCE: The power of police unions is very real, because what they can do is they can mobilize the people who buy into this thin blue line ideology, and they can levy political consequences to politicians who they claim are violating the ideology of this thin blue line.

CLYDE BOATWRIGHT: The legislation being considered today threatens good officers.

It threatens the livelihood of our families.

And we ask that the members of the General Assembly do not turn their backs on the men and women in uniform.

[Applause] DAYVON LOVE: So, the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights was codified in 1974.

Its history is actually pretty interesting when we look at policing policy.

AARON BEKEMEYER: So, the late '60s and the early '70s were a time of pretty significant transition for police unions.

POLICE OFFICER IN ARCHIVE VIDEO: The Baltimore City Police Department, we who are on strike, are gonna come up with the high ground this time!

[Cheering] AARON: Police unions, they had a hard time getting an institutional foothold before the 1960s.

Public sector unions in general were not well established in this period of time and often weren't legal.

And the rest of organized labor didn't really want to have anything to do with unionized police officers, because police surveilled working class communities and broke strikes.

But things really change for these groups in the 1960s and the 1970s.

JAMEIN CUNNINGHAM: You have, like the apex of the Great Migration.

You have Black folks coming from the south to these urban cities, New York, Philadelphia, Newark.

And these communities are changing, and crime is rising.

NEWSCASTER: The FBI has been adding up the reported crimes of last year, and says there were 11 percent more of them than the year before.

JAMEIN: And this is the first time what we have police having to go into these communities in order to deter crime.

[Audio from police radio] AARON: This is the era of incredible militant social movement across the board in the United States, but in particular the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.

It's the era of the urban uprisings, the so-called riots.

[Sirens and fires burning] SPIRO AGNEW: To all who have been victimized, I pledge to you that all possible power will be exerted to restore order and security to your lives.

JAMEIN: And this led to the Kerner Commission report, they called for more reform and called for police oversight and civilian review boards.

And so the police, their authority is being challenged, it's a difficult job.

MAN: Actually, an assault on a policeman is an assault on law, and when people realize that it is an assault on the due process of law, they'll see this entire thing in a new perspective.

AARON: And so, as a result, police unions start to be able to make a different kind of case for their existence and for their access to political power and to labor rights.

POLICE OFFICER INTERVIEW: Everybody in this job should stick together, because that's the kind of profession it is.

It's that everybody has to stay together.

AARON: And the leaders of these groups start to say, police are the people who secure the safety and the prosperity of the community, of the body politic.

WOMAN: I really don't feel safe downtown.

AARON: And there is a fearful, often White public who buys the police union pitch in this period of time.

And so, in 1974, you finally get the passage of this bill.

It is the first state level Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights that is passed in the country.

[Dramatic piano music] ♪ ♪ SEN.

CARTER: Well, I've always been extremely perturbed by injustice and racism.

I grew up in Baltimore City.

My father was a civil rights activist here.

WALTER P. CARTER: As Black people are beginning to get together that means that we are beginning to identify with things that we have been led to reject.

And one of the things that we have rejected has been, of course, ourselves.

SEN.

CARTER: My father literally gave his life for the cause of justice.

And so, I grew up knowing and believing that's the ideal, that you work and live for a cause greater than yourself.

SEN.

CARTER: Hey, hey, hey!

[Chatter, laughter] JIM GRIFFIN: Jill's been a fighter ever since she was old enough to fight.

She's very much like her father.

SEN.

CARTER: One of the things my mother has said to me a couple of times, she said, "Jill, in case you didn't notice this, Walter didn't win.

You can't win this."

Initially, I felt perturbed that she would take that approach, but now that I've been in it for many, many years, it's been, um, just a constant source of frustration.

JIM: I understand.

SEN.

CARTER: In 2014 and 15, we believed we would look at the things that were the most egregious things that needed change and that people could get behind and understand, and we put those forward.

SEN.

CARTER: I just want to begin by saying that this is the first step in the road to Annapolis January 2015.

I was very idealistic early in my career that if we just point out what's wrong the people that are in the position to fix it will.

That never happened.

POLICE OFFICER AT HEARING: You are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

There is no problem with the law enforcement.

Let me finish.

There's no problem with the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.

SEN.

CARTER: It was like, oh well, we can't do anything to upset the law enforcement community.

We can't upset the FOP.

[Somber music] ♪ ♪ [Birds chirping] WOMAN: We don't want to get too close.

Okay.

You all see yourselves?

Yes.

Okay.

One.

Two.

Three.

[Laughter] SEN.

CARTER: So today, of course, is the first day of the 2021 legislative session.

If we repeal the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, I feel that my time in the legislature was not completely a waste.

PRESIDENT BILL FERGUSON: Over these next 90 days, we have the unbelievable opportunity to truly change destiny.

Before we adjourn, I do want to make sure that we welcome our very newest member to the chamber.

Senator Michael Jackson, welcome, from the 27th district.

[Applause] SEN.

CARTER: The rub here is that right before a session, like days before session, two of our members are being replaced on our committee.

SENATOR MICHAEL JACKSON: Thank you, Mr.

President, and members of this esteemed body.

SEN.

CARTER: The two people that have been selected to replace them, happen to be lifelong members of FOP and former law enforcement officers that happen to be senators now.

SEN.

JACKSON: And I look forward to working with you to continue the good works of district 27.

Thank you.

SEN.

CARTER: I think that was a move that demonstrates a desire to possibly weaken some of the bills, or an effort to weaken them.

That's the danger.

Not that nothing will pass, but that legislators will be easily co-opted into voting for things that are going to have very little significance in terms of bringing any real reform or change into the culture of policing.

[Conversation] TAWANDA JONES: You know, how many years we gotta keep on going trying to eat at this?

And the saddest part, every year it's different families.

ABDUL SALAAM: Mic check!

CROWD: Mic check!

ABDUL: Mic check!

CROWD: Mic check!

- My name is Abdul Salaam, I'm here to represent Amir Salaam as well.

TAWANDA: Yeah.

ABDUL: Victims of police brutality.

TAWANDA: Right.

ABDUL: So, Tyrone's incident happened within two blocks and two weeks of our incident.

WOMAN: Why they still sitting on him?

Why they holding him on the ground?

I mean, look at him, all of these cops... ABDUL: It was eerie how similar the two incidents were.

BOY: No.

He wasn't doing nothing.

ABDUL: I saw a marked car and thought nothing of it and proceeded down the alley to my home.

The officer attempted to aggressively pull me out of the van and threw me into the gate dividing my house and the row home next door.

He slammed me at least two or three more times.

Boom, boom, boom.

I'm now falling into the alley.

The crowd started to grow.

BOY: They're gonna take him behind something and beat the [deleted] out of him.

ABDUL: And I was pretty much out of it at this point.

You're in survival mode.

All that you focus on is making it home safe to your son.

ABDUL: Miss Shirley, get my son miss Shirley, please!

TAWANDA: I met Abdul Salaam, he did everything humanly possible to get these dangerous cops off the street.

ABDUL: TAWANDA: If they would have just been placed behind a desk, my brother wouldn't even be dead.

POET: I once knew a young Black joker named Jack, and his skin was dark as spades.

And the streets held him and his friends tight in his palms like a poker player holds his pairs.

And late at night it's like our block takes the stage and says to death, pick a card, and death plucks Jack from his deck.

It's all hood entertainment; we call it Black boy magic.

And I sit here reciting these words, trying to break the hex of this Black boy magic.

Black boy magic.

Black boy magic.

[Crowd chanting] WILLIE FLOWERS: This summer we saw millions of people in the United States literally pour into the streets to demand immediate action to transform policing in America.

[Cheering] WILL SMITH: Alright.

Welcome to the judicial proceedings voting session on police reform.

So today, we'll get right to the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.

SEN.

CARTER: Sending a message of repealing Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights is what the citizens are crying out for.

They're crying out for accountability, and where bad officers, these so-called few bad apples continue to be on the force.

- My name is Clyde Boatwright, and I'm the president of the Maryland State Fraternal Order of Police.

[Crowd marching and chanting] CLYDE: The next two days are critical.

We have before us, Senate Bill 627, which will make significant changes to the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights.

WILLIE: We're dealing with the Maryland General Assembly that wants to negotiate with the FOP.

We will not rest until there's a full repeal of LEOBR.

CROWD: Hey hey, ho, ho, LEOBR has got to go!

CLYDE: Call our elected officials at every level and tell them that Senate Bill 627 is very bad for policing, and it goes against all efforts to reform policing in Maryland.

WILL: With counsel reading our first set of proposed amendments for the evening, which are from Senator Jackson.

Alright, Senator Jackson, help us out.

SENATOR MICHAEL JACKSON: So, we are moving to a three-person board where you have two civilians and a sworn officer who's... CROWD: Has got to go.

LEOBR has got to go.

LEOBR has got to go.

SEN.

CARTER: I have a concern about this.

I think it's gone too far.

WILL SMITH: Senator Bailey.

JACK BAILEY: We need to... SEN.

CARTER: I have no idea how it all happened.

All I know is that every amendment, every one, was either from FOP or chiefs and sheriffs.

TAWANDA JONES: Now, we know why it's so cold out here.

It's so cold it represents the heart of these legislators that keep watering down these goddamn bills!

[Cheering and applause] WILL SMITH: Roll Call.

No.

WOMAN: Senator Jackson.

SEN.

MICHAEL JACKSON: Yes.

WOMAN: Senator Cassilly.

SENATOR ROBERT CASSILLY: Yes.

WOMAN: Senator Carter.

SEN.

CARTER: No.

WOMAN: Senator West.

SENATOR WEST: Yes.

WILL SMITH: So, the amendment carries.

[Pounding of gavel] CROWD: Repeal for real!

Repeal for real!

Repeal for real!

TAWANDA: I'm tired.

I'm tired of seeing mothers cry.

I'm tired of seeing people getting murdered over, and over, and over again.

I'm tired of asking these people for anything.

Not asking them for nothing.

They live off our pain.

[Sound of thunder and soft patter of rain] [Footsteps] CROWD: Senator!

Senator!

Prevent eviction.

Thank you!

Thank you for your support.

SEN.

CARTER: I don't think the laws are perfect, but I do think that it's a start.

We did the damn thing, didn't we?

VOICE: We did the damn thing.

[Laughter] SEN.

CARTER: It's still much better than before because for the last over 40, 50, 60 years, we didn't tweak anything, which is the whole problem.

I feel like I wish we could have done this before.

Maybe we could have spared some suffering.

(Dramatic Music) ♪ ♪ MAN: And this shouldn't be long.

TAWANDA JONES: Guys, I'm just I'm waiting for more people to show up cause it's raining, everybody's kinda commuting and kinda slow, which is understandable, so.

MAN: I'll hold it.

TAWANDA: Alrighty.

So, yeah.

Um.

Yeah, I just want to thank each and every last one of y'all.

And, this is a hard moment for me because as you guys know, my brother Tyrone West was executed right here nine years ago.

So, the reason why I chose five and the three was because my brother Tyrone would have been 53 this year.

TAWANDA: As long as you have breath in your body, your loved one isn't dead because you speak through them.

Thank you guys, see you on Wednesday, West Wednesday, guys at the State's Attorney's office at 6:30 p.m.

Mic Check!

CROWD: Mic Check!

[Pensive piano music continues] ♪ ♪