Criminal Justice

HCPD Officer and Students

A Howard County Police Department Resource Officer was engaged in a friendly exchange with students after school at one of the HCLS branches before the branches were closed because of COVID-19. It was clear that the officer and the students knew each other, and that there was an established and positive relationship. The officer knew the names of the students, and the students seemed very comfortable with the officer. The exchange seemed very relaxed and friendly. … [Read more...]

Spotted While Driving

I sat in Starbucks in Columbia with a work associate and noted how heavily policed the area was, with sirens constantly going by in the Oakland Mills area. Within five minutes of leaving, still new to the area, I was pulled over also. I had been holding my phone in my hand to view my gps more closely and then a call came in. I greeted the caller and the sirens went off. While the officer was talking to me, a white man who I estimated to be in his 60s was walking down the street. He started … [Read more...]

SRO reactions

Less of a story and more general observations over the past few months of how parents/community members respond to the call to remove SROs from schools. Not surprising, but still disappointing, how many white parents are intent on keeping SROs instead of listening and seeking out the voices of students/ families, many who are Black and brown, who are impacted negatively by police presence in school all the time. This would be the time to amplify the voice of someone who has been harmed, not … [Read more...]

Local Community and Law enforcement meeting in the middle

Shortly after the murder of George Floyd a program coordinator at the CA Youth and Teen Center invited me to participate in a community session with the Howard County Police and local community members. There was a moderator from Howard County, can't remember the department. His name was Trent. He was fabulous. There were about 25 people and it was a very powerful and balanced meeting. It gave me some background information on how there are so few black police officers in Howard County, which I … [Read more...]

Kids

There was a huge stir in our neighborhood about thievery from 'youths' that would hang out in the park and wilderness area. These 'youths' might have stolen a bike from someone, and may have been responsible for burglarizing a neighbor's house in the recent past, but there was no proof whatsoever of any of these suspicions. At the time, I walked through this park area on my way to and from work on a regular basis. I finally managed to meet these some kids there, all young teenage boys of color. … [Read more...]

Traffic Watch

Since hearing a Race Equity Collaborative colleague tell of his son being followed by police here in HoCo, I started watching during my short, pandemic-range drives to see who I saw stopped by the cops. Only once did a see a white person stopped. All the other stops (<10) were people of color. I'm not at all convinced this relates to minding the driving rules. Certainly not speed-related driving rules. I've seen plenty of white males whizzing past me at excessive speeds, ignoring stop signs, … [Read more...]

Scary Situation

I work in Howard County at the library but I have a story from last year that happened where I live (different county). My son and a friend went to a National Park last year (right before the Pandemic). It was a nice day and they wanted to take a hike and explore history. My sons have grown up going to the parks and love them. They completely got questioned and patted down by a police office. They were accused of having pot. They did not and are completely the best kids. Super friendly, polite … [Read more...]

Empathy and Worship?

My indigenous friends experienced racism from Howard County police last year. It was very traumatic. The wife bravely shared this experience in a church setting as an example of when prayer helped her. A former police officer in the group stuck up for the police and denied there being any racism in the situation. I tried to meet up with this person later to hear her side and perhaps convince her to be more empathetic towards the indigenous person. She refused and shared a lot more racist … [Read more...]

School to Prison Pipeline

I recently heard one of our African American County Leaders make a statement about Howard County not having a school to prison pipeline. I was very disappointed in his statement and felt that his statement was false. I work with marginalized families in Howard County every day and I know that so many our families males (especially African American Males) are in jail at high numbers. As a County Official of color, he should be more engaged in the statistics before making comments like that. … [Read more...]