Council Passes Police Reform Resolution

After many months of work, the Greenbelt City Council unanimously approved the resolution to modify the police general orders during its January 10 meeting. The first 22 modifications of the legislation were approved. These modifications include defining the term of de-escalation, requiring police to identify themselves loudly and clearly if they are forcibly entering a premises, and modifying the general orders to prohibit officers from preventing civilians from recording police-civilian interactions so long as the person recording is acting lawfully and safely.

Another nine modifications were tabled for further discussion.

After the vote, Mayor Emmett Jordan said, “To my colleagues, thank you very much for what we have done. We have more work to do.”