For Immediate Release: Friday, March 26, 2021
Rockville, Md., March 26, 2021—Earlier today the Montgomery County Police Department released body-worn camera footage of a Jan. 2020 interaction between police officers, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) staff and a five-year-old student. The Council issued the following statement:
"Earlier today, the Montgomery County Police Department released body camera footage from a 2020 interaction between police officers, Montgomery County Public Schools staff and a five-year old student and his parent.
"We are outraged by the conduct that we observed. The full Council offers its deepest apologies to the Grant family. This incident is absolutely unacceptable: No child, not to mention a five-year-old child, should ever be treated this way by the people tasked with keeping our communities safe.
"This incident also reflects the need for increased police training on interactions with young children and de-escalating situations. While the Council cannot comment on pending litigation, this incident will inform the actions this body takes in our upcoming budget deliberations and on pending legislation. We must do better for our children, our schools, and our community.
"We must also state that we do not condone the unacceptable statements made by the officers that appear to encourage child abuse. The Montgomery County Council unequivocally condemns child abuse, and no member of our government should ever encourage it.
"Lastly, we are exasperated by how the Executive Branch has handled this incident. Despite repeated requests, the Montgomery County Council only received the footage of this incident 23 minutes before its release. We were blindsided by the notice of the public release and expected much greater advance notice prior to today, particularly since this incident happened over a year ago. The footage should have also been released to the public much earlier. We also believe that our community deserved to hear directly from our County Executive about what actions the administration plans to take to make sure a situation like this never happens ever again."
Councilmembers made remarks about this incident at the beginning of today's Council meeting, which can be viewed here.
Release ID: 21-129