Excessive Force Incidents
- July, 1999, the department was subject to a complaint by the United States Justice Department regarding alleged excessive use of force by police canine units.
- January 2004, the department signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States Justice Department over allegations of excessive force. This resulted in the establishment of an independent monitoring group by Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), a defense contractor.
- May 2004, a Prince Georges County police officer detained a University of Maryland student for walking to close to an area where he was interviewing a citizen. He held a handgun to a students head and threatened to shoot him in the back of the head if he was ever disrespected like that again.
- July 29, 2008, police executed a search warrant on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo during which two Labrador retrievers owned by the mayor were shot by sheriff deputies, agents of the State of Maryland. They were there to conduct a search for drugs. The raid was conducted by county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT Team. The incident occurred after Calvo carried in a package that was addressed to his wife which contained a large amount of marijuana. The mayor's mother-in-law had told the deliverymen, who were actually undercover police officers, to leave the package outside of his house. When Calvo arrived home that night, he brought the package inside. Calvo claimed he knew nothing of the narcotics being delivered to his home and hinted that he was "set up".
- October 23, 2008, the county and three individually named police officers were found not liable for use of excessive force by a jury after deliberating for twenty minutes. The claim involved injuries sustained by a University of Maryland student who was involved in a riot following a victory over Duke University in basketball in 2005. The student was struck near the eye allegedly by a projectile fired from a FN 303 less-than-lethal riot gun.
Read more about this topic: Prince George's County Police Department
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