Laurel Police, NAACP Sign Deal to Keep 'Open Lines of Communication'

The Laurel Police Department (LPD) and Prince George's County branch of the NAACP signed a major agreement Thursday designed to keep open lines of communication between the two and bolster residents' trust in local law enforcement.

The deal, reached with mediation by the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Relations Service, comes after NAACP officials asked the DOJ to investigate residents' claims of excessive force and racial targeting by the LPD last year.

"The purpose here was to increase trust," Grande Lum, director of the CRS, said at the City Hall signing event. "The purpose here was to improve police-community relations, and I strongly believe that this agreement does that."

Under the terms of the deal, the LPD will notify the local NAACP within 48 hours should "police situations with potential racial implications" arise in order to "address rumor control and dissemination of accurate, non-confidential information."

In turn, the NAACP branch has agreed contact the LPD when it receives complaints of a similar nature to "dispel rumors and, where possible, provide forewarning regarding NAACP interaction with the press concerning the Laurel Police Department."

Officers are slated to undergo DOJ-run "Cultural Professionalism/Law Enforcement Mediation Training," and the NAACP has agreed to help the LPD recruit from the minority community and historically black colleges.

The LPD has also committed to continuing and better promoting various community outreach activities, including Coffee with the Chief and the chief's citizens' advisory committees.

Both parties pledged not pursue legal proceedings against one another to enforce the agreement. Instead, conflicts are to be brought to the CRS or another neutral arbiter for mediation.

Bob Ross, president of the NAACP Prince George's County Branch, said that the deal had been struck with significant resident input and "collaboration, collaboration, collaboration."

After DOJ officials approached the City of Laurel at the NAACP's request, the two sides began a series of weekly meetings to reach the agreement.

"Policing is definitely needed in the community. But no one should have to live in fear of the police department, either. And that's what we had here. So we were trying to eliminate that fear factor, build that trust back into the police department," Ross said.

Ross noted that while the NAACP had received a number of complaints from city residents that led it to pursue mediation, it was not specifically acting on behalf of D'Ante Williams, whose Aug. 5 arrest garnered significant attention after video surfaced of a Laurel police officer striking him in handcuffs.

"Once he hired an attorney … and did not file a complaint with the NAACP, we could not pick that up," Ross said.

"This is going to be a benefit to the entire community," Laurel Police Chief Richard McLaughlin told the small audience gathered for the signing.

"The agreement basically ensures that there will be open lines of communications, that there will be more community outreach, that there will be more community involvement," McLaughlin added.

Glenn Brown, a member of the Prince George's NAACP executive committee, said the agreement could be a helpful template if similar situations arise in other communities.

"This might be the model that we can roll out, not only in Prince George's County, but throughout the state of Maryland," Brown said.