The Same But Not The Same

Stawinski Resignation Forces New Season In County Policing

Commentary By Raoul Dennis

Let’s be honest about race and politics in policing no matter where it is in the country.

The culture of indifference and hostility toward black and Latino residents by bad seed officers is not likely to be broken by a police chief. Leadership can’t force a change in the hearts of people. It won’t matter if the chief is white or black, male or female. Strong police unions who are traditionally anchored in departments do more to set the bar for what happens with bad actors in a department than police chiefs who attempt to set the tone for those departments. Any real change requires coordination with the union, the police department, community, elected leadership and, these days, community health and education. Any real expectation of ground-up change could take a few years to be successful. This is because all cultures, good and bad, take time to become what they are and therefore take time to be redirected.

So, as Minneapolis, MN residents look to cities like Camden, NJ to reboot their approach toward public safety, they know they have an uphill climb. They know that the union is not likely to budge an inch: that’s what led to George Floyd’s death in the first place. They know that like Camden, they will likely have to go around it by dismantling the system entirely and rebuilding it from scratch.

But Prince George’s County, Md is different. The county is enjoying the lowest violent crime rates in 35 years. It has recorded decreases in overall crime within the past 10 years.  After ascending to the chief of the department in 2016, Hank P. Stawinski applied innovative, data-driven techniques to the department’s strategies – and it was working. Further, Stawinski’s community-oriented style of policing leaned more progressive than most traditional departments across the nation.  In fact, in a 2019 interview with Prince George’s Suite Magazine & Media, Stawinski said that the future of the department would center more on public safety and support rather than pure counter crime force (click here to read “The Science of Policing”). Very few will demand a complete overhaul of the system that Stawinski and his predecessor, Mark Magaw developed. It brought results.

But there were problems. The resignation of the chief comes just as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports that there is racism and discrimination within the culture of the department under his leadership. The lawsuit, filed by Black and Latino officers within the department, suggests there is a pattern of unaddressed racial issues.  The NAACP was days ahead of an announcement of no confidence in Stawinski’s leadership. In a county with a predominately minority population, a hub of African American wealth and led by African American leadership, such a proclamation is a career bending matter.

Ideally, it would have been best if the problems could have been resolved with Chief Stawinski in place. He was raised in the county, lives in the county and had an eye toward re-centering the department for the future. Perhaps more direct community involvement in the mechanics could have addressed the issues and led to correcting the issues that black and Latino officers highlight.

That moment has passed.

Whether Stawinski was at the center of the problems or swept up within them, no longer matters. The challenge ahead will be in keeping the best practices of the Prince George’s County Police Department while weeding out the worst. County residents will demand that all the accomplishments achieved and ground gained in the public safety remain intact while the culture of the agency that delivered such progress reboot itself.  We want the same but not the same.

Shouldn’t the police be able to deliver quality, professional service without racism? Absolutely, yes. And the county deserves such. But be clear: it won’t be easy and it won’t be fast.

That shouldn’t be too high a hill.

The county executive, who will lead the effort along with Acting Chief Hector Velez, often invokes the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.”

Here we go.