Anton’s Law promised to make Maryland police disciplinary records public, but in reality transparency has been slow or non-existent – By Justin Fenton and Lilly Price (Baltimore Sun) / December 30, 2021
When the Maryland General Assembly passed the landmark Anton’s Law, it meant to provide transparency to police discipline and bring the state in line with the majority of the country.
But more than two months after it went into effect, some police departments have been refusing to provide information while others claim they must charge high fees to comply
Baltimore Police, for example, say they intend to provide records but are swamped with requests, and have sent one requester a bill in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In Anne Arundel, the police department’s attorney said she would not release names or badge numbers of officers. Christine Ryder said that the disclosure of officers’ names would have a “chilling effect” in investigations and be contrary to the public interest.
