* Warning: This is an unofficial, introductory copy of the bill.
The official copy considered by the City Council is the first reader copy.
Introductory*
City of Baltimore
Council Bill R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Scott
A Resolution Entitled
A Council Resolution concerning
title
Request for State Action - Police Redistricting
For the purpose of calling on the Baltimore City Delegation to the 2018 Maryland General Assembly to secure enactment of legislation requiring that the Baltimore City Police Department review and adjust police district boundaries after the information from each decennial census becomes available to ensure that Baltimore’s security resources are allocated as efficiently as possible.
body
Recitals
Baltimore City’s Police Department divides the 86 square miles under its jurisdiction into 9 police districts of varying size for administrative purposes. Typically, each of the 9 districts is staffed with roughly the same number of officers.
District boundaries have remained unchanged for years despite significant changes in both population numbers and distribution since the present boundaries were adopted, as well as changes in the security needs of various neighborhoods over this timespan. Today, the districts vary significantly in area, population, and number of calls for services. A study of 2012 call for service data, for instance, found that the least active district had only 60% as many calls for service as the most active district.
Without periodic review and revision of the district boundaries it is likely that changing circumstances will lead to increasingly inefficient allocations of police resources. In order to avoid this, it is important to mandate that changes be considered at regular intervals.
By law, City Council districts need to be reexamined and realigned every 10 years when new census results become available. Police districts should be adjusted at this time as well, so that they can take advantage of the most up to date information available on population and service call volume changes.
In the last session of the General Assembly legislation drafted with the support of Baltimore’s Police Commissioner on this topic passed the House unanimously but did not receive a vote in Senate. This momentum needs to be built off of in the coming session so that this critical realignment can finally take place.
Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of Baltimore, That the Council calls on the Baltimore City Delegation to the 2018 Maryland General Assembly to secure enactment of legislation requiring that the Baltimore City Police Department review and adjust police district boundaries after the information from each decennial census becomes available to ensure that Baltimore’s security resources are allocated as efficiently as possible.
And be it further resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Governor, the Honorable Chairs and Members of the Baltimore City House and Senate Delegations to the Maryland General Assembly, the President of the Maryland Senate, the Maryland House Speaker, the Mayor, and the Mayor’s Legislative Liaison to the City Council.