A Baltimore councilman is taking aim at the city’s citation docket program, introducing legislation for quarterly reporting to the council after what he said were “ethical and fiscal flags” raised at a budget hearing earlier this year.
Councilman Kristerfer Burnett, a Democrat representing West Baltimore, has been critical in the past of the docket, a program begun by Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, also a Democrat, to manage low-level criminal offenses such as loitering, drinking in public and drug possession. When someone receives a citation, prosecutors offer to drop the charges after the defendant completes community service. Bates has also pledged to offer wraparound services, like drug treatment, to those charged.
The docket, which was introduced in 2023 as an alternative to a previous policy of not prosecuting such offenses under the leadership of State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, has been a political hot button. The City Council met previously to discuss the use of the docket by Baltimore Police, where some criticized its lack of use. The docket was a frequent topic during the mayoral race earlier this year and was discussed during a budget hearing for Bates’ office in May.
Burnett’s bill, introduced Monday, would require quarterly reports to the council on enforcement of citations as well as the establishment of “metrics and guidelines” for the program. Councilmembers Phylicia Porter, Odette Ramos and John Bullock are co-sponsors.
In a statement issued ahead of the bill’s introduction, Burnett was sharply critical of the program, particularly what he said is incomplete data presented by Bates. Burnett said Bates’ presentation to the council during a May budget hearing did not detail the outcome of citations, the race of those receiving them or protocols for when warnings should be issued.
“With our history of mass incarceration and the over-policing of Brown and Black communities, Baltimore deserves more than half-baked programs that are rushed to be rolled out before proper evaluation, which ultimately creates more harm to the members of our community than benefits,” Burnett said.
Burnett suggested the docket is “broken windows” policing by another name. That strategy targeted low-level crimes in hopes that enforcement would lead to a reduction in other crimes by creating a more lawful environment.
“Our government officials must learn from the mistakes of the past,” Burnett said.
In a statement issued Monday evening, Bates said Burnett doesn’t understand broken windows policing. He argued the theory is about arresting people for quality-of-life offenses while his program aims to issue citations and offer services.
“It’s the residents, including his (Burnett’s) constituents, who have asked for me to address these issues,” Bates said. “It’s a crazy concept, but it seems that quality-of-life offenses actually affect our residents’ quality of life, and I personally think they deserve better.”
Since it was introduced in July 2023, the citation docket program has gotten off to a slow start — a pace that has prompted finger-pointing among Bates’ office, Baltimore Police and Mayor Brandon Scott’s office. At a hearing before the council’s Public Safety and Government Operations Committee in February, the state’s attorney’s office said only 37 citations written by Baltimore Police had made it to the citation docket over the program’s first seven months.
At that hearing, the state’s attorneys office said Baltimore Police had not responded to an offer from the state’s attorney’s office to train police on the issuance of citations. Police officials argued the shift to writing citations was an “educational process” that required adjustment after a long hiatus from writing them.
In April, Bates went public with what he called a widening “rift” between he and Scott. Chief among his complaints about the mayor was that he was not being supportive of the citation docket.
Bates said Monday that he shares some of Burnett’s concerns about the lack of data on the docket, but he argued the failure to compile such data was the responsibility of police, not his office.
“If an officer writes an illegible citation or provides the incorrect date or courthouse, how is that my fault?” Bates said. “If we offer the same training to multiple other law enforcement agencies but don’t see these same issues, then logic would say it’s not the training.”
Bates urged Burnett to pursue legislation on the issue if he would like to see changes.
“As State’s Attorney, I do not legislate or create laws but merely enforce them,” Bates said. “If he is truly unhappy with the laws, he is actually the person to offer legislation to change them or repeal them.”