New bill would limit police searches in Montgomery County: 'It's a waste of time'

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - A Montgomery County councilmember is introducing a new measure that would ban police from searching a person's car in some circumstances.

Councilmember Will Jawando, D-At-Large is behind the "Freedom to Leave Act," which would ban consent searches of a car or a person by a police officer. A consent search is when a law enforcement officer searches a person’s car, or the individual, after the officer obtained verbal consent.

"If someone with a gun and a badge asks and says, ‘Hey, can I search your car?" The power in balance, it’s not truly consent to say ‘no,’ even though under the fourth amendment, you are free to leave. That’s why we named it ‘Freedom to Leave’," Councilmember Jawando said Wednesday. "It extends traffic stops. It erodes trust with law enforcement, and it’s disproportionately happening to communities of color. That’s the first component. The second component would be more robust collection on what happens during traffic stops."

Jawando said the measure builds on legislation he introduced last year, which was named the "Step Act."The legislation would have limited reasons why county police could stop drivers and pedestrians, though a September 2023 opinion from Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown deemed the legislation would conflict with state law.

"This is really about making sure nobody feels targeted. They can be supported. They can trust law enforcement and not wasting time on something that doesn’t work. Data from our own police department said 1 out of every 205 stops yields contraband, weapons, or drugs. That’s less than .05 percent," Jawando said. "When I was 19, I worked for the police department as a AmeriCorps member. I was pulled over 10 times that year. I was never given a ticket. My car was searched multiple times. I looked different, younger. I had corn rows. I looked different then. It really doesn’t build trust, and it was a waste of time."

Montgomery County’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35 released a statement Wednesday opposing the legislation. FOP 35 represents about 1,000 police officers. Organization president Lee Holland said those officers already inform people they have the right to refuse a search.

"We go further than most agencies with us telling people. That is not a requirement under the fourth amendment. A police officer does not need to tell you that, but here in Montgomery County, we do that already," he said. "It’s a telling sign that we are losing police officers because of laws that are being passed on policy decisions in Montgomery County. Officers feel everyday policies are being made, they don’t know what these policies, what they mean. They’re being made by politicians and not police leaders. That is our biggest recruiting problem, is people do not know what these bills or how they should be implemented."

Holland said Councilmember Jawando emailed him last Thursday informing him he’d introduced the measure this week. In the past, the FOP worked with Jawando on another legislation involving other counties overseeing fatal officer-involved shootings, which Holland said the organization supported.

"We 100% agree we could work on use of force policies, but taking away our voice, taking away the voice of police officers is where we draw the line and unfortunately, this bill does the same thing again in trying to prohibit collective bargaining in police officers having their voice sitting at the table," Holland said.

The measure is scheduled for a public hearing on February 27.