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Prince George’s Residents, Advocates Demand Police Reform By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill Before a work group completes a report by Oct. 30 with recommendations to reform the Prince George’s County police department, some residents and advocates want at least a half-dozen added to ensure full accountability. The list of demands come from family members such as Tracy Shand, whose 49-year-old brother Leonard Shand was shot and killed by police Sept. 26, 2019, in Hyattsville. “When you killed my brother, you knocked at my door, so I can’t stay in my corner no more,” Shand said Friday, Sept. 25 outside the Wayne K. Curry Administration Building in Largo. “It is horrifying to come up here and tell you that change has
to happen in P.G. County.” To accentuate their point, Shand and other supporters held orange and white posters with 82 names of individuals killed by county police. Shand, affected loved ones and other supporters chose to speak in front of the administration building because it houses the office of County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. The 23-member task force held a meeting Thursday, Sept. 24 that included a presentation from the county’s Office of Homeland Security. One of the agency’s main duties is to provide dispatch of police, fire and other emergency services through county’s 911 call center. Alsobrooks has said the work group established in July would not only listen to community suggestions, but also assess and
analyze police department use of force, hiring and training policies. Meanwhile, residents on Friday focused one six demands such as to force police accountability for those killed by police in the majority Black jurisdiction in Maryland. This demand connects to the Leonard Shand case because a grand jury ruled several weeks ago his death “was objectively reasonable” and didn’t indict any of the nearly 12 officers involved. Two other requests would enforce the state’s attorney office publicly lists officers barred from testifying in court on previous cases, and support statewide police reform and accountability initiatives from dozens of advocacy groups. Two other demands are part of a report released in June that highlights racial and retaliatory practices within the police department. Michael E. Graham,
5 Josette Blocker talks about how Prince George’s County police caused her nephew, Demonte Ward-Blake, to become paralyzed from the waist down after a traffic stop in October 2019. Blocker spoke at a press conference Sept. 25 outside the Wayne K. Curry Administration Building in Largo. (William J. Ford/The Washington Informer)
a 33-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, wrote the nearly 100-page document as a part of lawsuit by former and current Prince George’s police officers against
the county and department. Residents and advocates want the rest of the report unredacted that shows more than 6,800 use of force incidents occurred in the
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