Article 17
Police Department

Editor's Notes

Chapter 133 of the Acts of 2021 named the Baltimore Police Department (the "Department") to be "an agency and instrumentality of the City of Baltimore" instead of the State by amending §§ 6-2(a) and 6-3 of this Subtitle 16. The transfer of control was made contingent on the passage of an amendment to the City Charter and its ratification by the voters of Baltimore City. The transfer of control was effectuated by the ratification of the amendment to the City Charter and became effective January 1, 2023.

Local control, however, was not complete. The General Assembly did not repeal part of § (27) of Article II, of the City Charter barring the Mayor and City Council from enacting any ordinance that would "conflict, impede, obstruct, hinder or interfere with the powers of the Police Commissioner." Historically this provision blocked any attempt by the Mayor and City Council to enact legislation impacting police operations. Article II of the City Charter contains the City's express powers as delegated by the State, and the Maryland Constitution provides that only the General Assembly may add, amend, or repeal provisions in Article II of the City Charter. Md. Const., Art. XI-A, §§ 2, 4; Kimball-Tyler Co. v. Baltimore, 214 Md. 86, 94 (1957) ("the City has no authority at all to legislate on the subject of its express powers . . .Only the General Assembly can alter those provisions,").

Two years after City voters authorized the transfer of control of the Department from the State to the City, the interfering part of § (27) of the City Charter was repealed by Chapter 947 of the Acts of 2024. Section 2 of Chapter 947 made contingent the effectiveness of the act "on the passage of an amendment to the Charter of Baltimore City that provides for the appointment, terms of office, and the powers and duties of the Baltimore City Police Commissioner and the powers and duties of the Baltimore City Police Department and its ratification by the voters of Baltimore City at the 2024 general election." Within the same Section 2 the Act specified that if the amendment was ratified at the 2024 general election the act would take effect on January 1, 2025.

By enacting Ordinance 24-310 on January 24, 2024, the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore sought to satisfy the requirements of § 2 of Chapter 947 by proposing to amend the City Charter by establishing the objectives, powers, and duties of the Baltimore City Police Department; creating the role of the Police Commissioner and establishing the Commissioner as the head of the Department; providing for the appointment and confirmation of the Commissioner; establishing the powers and duties of police officers; and requiring the reallocation of police district boundaries. At the 2024 general election on November 5, 2024, the voters of Baltimore City ratified Question E thereby satisfying the requirements of § 2 of Chapter 947 and effectuating Ordinance 24-310, effective on January 1, 2025.

In addition to the Charter amendments proposed in Ordinance 24-310, the Mayor and City Council also moved to repeal the then binding law in Subtitle 16 of the Public Local Laws for Baltimore City governing the organization and operation of the Department. Ordinance 24-311, as enacted on January 24, 2024, repealed nearly all of Subtitle 16 of the Public Local Laws for Baltimore City and transferred a majority of the provisions to a new Article 17 {"Police Department"} in the City Code.

While the Public Local Laws are generally controlled by the General Assembly, the Mayor and City Council are empowered to "repeal or amend local laws enacted by the Maryland Legislature[] on all matters covered by the express powers granted to the [City]". Pressman v. Barnes, 209 Md. 544, 556-57 (1956).

Section 1 of Ordinance 24-311 repealed §§ 16-1 through 16-15 and §§ 16-17 through 16-55 of Subtitle 16. Sections 16-16A, 16-16B, and 16-16C were not repealed. The 3 sections of Subtitle 16 that remain in effect historically provided the authority to the Commissioner to appoint special enforcement officers and for those officers to issue citations. However, to the extent that those sections permitted the City to enact local laws concerning special and traffic enforcement officers, the City gained full express powers to legislate over these topics with the repeal of the language in § (27) of Article II of the City Charter that had prohibited certain local legislation. Now, the City's express powers serve as the authority for the City's enactment of the ordinances contained in Subtitles 71 through 73 of Article 19 {"Police Ordinances"} of the City Code.