TAKOMA PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT\ U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AGREEMENT

NOTICE OF RESOLUTION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS AND THE CITY OF TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND, POLICE DEPARTMENT

The City of Takoma Park ("Takoma Park") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an Agreement with the United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs ("DOJ/OJP") to resolve all issues associated with the DOJ/OJP civil rights compliance review of the Takoma Park Police Department's ("TPPD") employment practices, initiated in January 2000. The DOJ/OJP initiated the compliance review pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d (as amended) ("Title VI") and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3789d(c) (as amended) ("Safe Streets Act"). These statutes and their implementing regulations together prohibit discrimination in employment and services on the basis of race, color, sex and national origin by recipients of financial assistance from the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

The compliance review focused on the TPPD's policies and practices relating to discipline, promotions, training, job assignments, and work environment. DOJ/OJP did not find that the TPPD discriminated against its employees on the basis of race, sex, or national origin, nor did DOJ/OJP find that the TPPD retaliated against its employees for asserting civil rights protections. The compliance review, however, alerted the TPPD to the need to continue and expand diversity training for its employees and the need to improve its procedures for investigating complaints alleging discrimination.

The Agreement, in addition to incorporating the TPPD's ongoing diversity training program, creates an Equal Employment Opportunity ("EEO") Consultant which will work with and oversee the TPPD in the establishment of strengthened procedures for handling complaints from private individuals and TPPD employees alleging race, national origin, or sex discrimination, harassment, or retaliation by TPPD ("EEO complaints"). Under the Agreement, the EEO Consultant is an independent official that oversees the entire EEO complaint resolution process. Private individuals and TPPD employees may file EEO complaints with the EEO Consultant, Takoma Park's EEO Representative, the City Administrator, any member of the Takoma Park's Fair Practices Team (an internal employment dispute resolution and referral organization), or any TPPD supervisor. The complaint recipient must immediately forward the complaint to the EEO Consultant, who will assist the TPPD in developing a Complaint Investigation Plan and oversee and advise the TPPD during the course of the investigation, as well as at the determination and remedial phases of the process. EEO complaints will be confidential and the TPPD and the EEO Consultant will only reveal the identity of the complainant and the substance of the complaint to the extent necessary to investigate the complaint and remedy any violation.

In addition to advising the TPPD regarding the resolution of individual complaints, the EEO Consultant will continuously evaluate the TPPD's effectiveness in preventing discrimination and retaliation, recommend improvements to the TPPD's policies, and train Takoma Park's EEO Representative and the TPPD's EEO investigators to address EEO complaints.

The Agreement does not alter any due process protections and procedural requirements afforded police officers by the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, Md. Ann. Code 1957, Art. 27 §§727 et seq. ("LEOBR").

Every TPPD employee and member of the public has the right to contact the EEO Consultant directly to discuss, in confidence, concerns or to file a complaint regarding alleged acts of race, national origin, or sex discrimination, harassment, or retaliation committed by employees in the TPPD. TPPD employees that learn of EEO violations have an affirmative duty to report EEO violations and TPPD supervisors have an affirmative duty to report such violations and take actions to prevent future violations. The EEO Consultant may be reached by telephone, in writing, or in person, at the following location:

[Name, Address, and Telephone Number of the EEO Consultant will be provided as soon as hired.]

A full copy of the Agreement is available, upon request, from the office of Takoma Park's EEO Representative, at the following location:

Karen Hampton

301.270.1700 x 201

E-mail address: KarenH@Takomagov.org

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