Anne Arundel County is hiring a Howard County lawyer, Janssen Evelyn, to serve as executive director of Anne Arundel's police accountability board, announced County Executive Steuart Pittman today.
All Maryland counties have been spending this year working to set up police accountability boards, as mandated by last year's wide-sweeping Police Accountability Act.
Pittman said today:
"I believe we're the first county to hire an executive director for the police accountability board who's an attorney and a newcomer to county government."
The county specifically the executive director should be an attorney. More information about Evelyn is available here.
Pittman did note that Janssen Evelyn is from Howard County, not Anne Arundel.
Pittman also noted at the press conference that he believes the county's police force is now keeping up with the county's growth. Anne Arundel County gained about 52,000 people in the past 10 years, growing from 537,656 in 2010 to an estimated 590,336 in 2021.
Pittman said: "It has been a great honor to be in a position where i oversee the Anne Arundel County Police Department, having hired a chief, Chief Amal Awad, who understand the community policing, the importance of building trust in communities, and ultimately keeping our communities safe. We have invested heavily and we will continue to do that. We have now in our county nearly 100 more sworn officers than we did when I came in. We were way behind, our county had grown, and we had failed to keep up with the growth in the county. We've also raised police officer pay, so we do not lose the best people to other jurisdictions."
Pittman said he thinks "this extra layer of community policing," of the police accountability board, will also be a benefit.
