D-anon: Baltimore Police, Public Records, and Accountability

Join Baltimore Legal Hackers for a Zoom event at 6:00 p.m. on February 16th to participate in a discussion about “Chasing Justice,” a recent report from ACLU MD, which demonstrates how publicly available data can be used to deanonymize police officers whose misconduct allegations are shrouded in secrecy. Guests include Joe Spielberger, Public Policy Counsel for ACLU MD, and author of “Chasing Justice;" Brandon Soderberg, reporter and coauthor of “I Got A Monster,” who wrote about “Chasing Justice” for The Appeal; and Amelia McDonnell-Parry, a former journalist and podcaster for Undisclosed who now works for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

Full Description
In Maryland, all information about police misconduct is shielded from the public, protected by the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) and claims by police that Internal Affairs information is part of a police officer’s personnel record. Save for occasional leaks to the press or the rare moment when an officer’s Internal Affairs file is discussed in court, the public knows little about a police officer’s history or even how a complaint was resolved.

But a report from the ACLU MD released last month titled “Chasing Justice” provided a glimpse of the extent of police misconduct and some of the department’s worst offenders. “Chasing Justice” illustrates how police misconduct persists even after years of reforms implemented following the death of Freddie Gray in 2015—and even names some of the Baltimore Police officers with the most allegations.

“The report, written by ACLU of Maryland public policy counsel Joe Spielberger, makes officers already notorious in Baltimore’s overpoliced yet underserved communities known to the world. In Maryland, where even basic information about an officer’s internal affairs file is shielded by the state’s Public Information Act, the report is a rare accounting of misconduct,” criminal justice website The Appeal reported. “Using anonymous complaints and use-of-force incidents that Baltimore police uploaded to Project Comport, Spielberger was able to identify and name specific officers with misconduct complaints by cross-referencing the data with news articles, court databases, and other publicly available information.”

This meet-up is for the general public. We encourage a robust and civil conversation and will be monitoring the event and reserve the right to remove anyone from the Zoom event who is being disruptive or unkind.