Maryland State Police is asking the state for $2.75 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into racial discrimination within the agency.

The state police’s request for settlement funds appears on the agenda of next week’s meeting of the Board of Public Works, Maryland’s spending board. According to the agenda, the amount includes damages for people the Justice Department “identified” during its investigation into potential racial discrimination “regarding MDSP’s testing of potential applicants.”

In a statement, the office of Maryland U.S. Attorney Erek Barron confirmed that it and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division reached a settlement with state police, but declined to comment further.

State police spokesperson Elena Russo said in a statement that the investigation, launched in July 2022, prompted the agency to conduct “a rigorous and thorough evaluation of its hiring practices.”

“Following careful consideration and negotiations, the Department looks forward to hearing the settlement matter before the Maryland Board of Public Works, and will provide additional comment pending settlement action on October 2,” Russo said.

The Justice Department probe followed persistent complaints from Black troopers about racial discrimination in the workplace.

Sgt. Anthony Alexander, president of the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers, said in a phone interview with The Baltimore Sun that he was “not surprised” to learn about a settlement, but called the persistence of racial discrimination at the agency “very saddening.”

“I’ve been at this for close to 17 years,” Alexander said of his efforts to abolish discrimination within state police. “The agency is supposed to be moving forward and having ideals in order to create and hire Black and brown people. We live in a state that’s basically 30%. How do we not know how to do that? Where are we going wrong? We have to start looking internally.”

Barron previously told TheSun that the investigation would examine how the agency hired, promoted, trained, disciplined and made special opportunities available to its employees.

For years, Black troopers and state lawmakers raised concerns about the state police’s disparate treatment of Black employees around discipline, hiring and promotions. The superintendent of the agency was called in for questioning by lawmakers in 2021, and had to address an incident in which a banana was left on the hood of a Black trooper’s car.

In June 2022, The Sun reported on an explicit challenge coin with the Maryland State Police logo and offensive language. Some Black troopers said they took the coin’s message about being “offended” as a response to allegations they’d raised about racial discrimination.

Clarke Ahlers, an attorney who has represented Black and brown troopers in disciplinary and criminal matters, described the proposed settlement as “an acknowledgement of racial misconduct.”

“They’ve mistreated their own minorities for years,” Ahlers told The Sun.

The proposed settlement comes as a proposed class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of Black troopers continues through federal court. Filed in October 2022, the complaint alleged state police had a longstanding pattern of discrimination through disparate discipline, retaliation against officers making complaints and the denial of promotions.

The plaintiffs, three current and former troopers who are Black, sought a revision of the agency’s disciplinary and promotion policies, an independent monitor to oversee the department and a declaration that the state police violated the Civil Rights Act. They also demanded relief including monetary compensation, expunged discipline, reinstatements and promotions for those determined to have been discriminated against.

Alexander added that “there is definitely a bigger issue” than recruiting.

“The best recruiters are troopers,” he said. “When you have an agency where troopers are not happy with where they work at, that causes a problem.”

U.S. District Judge Brandon A. Hurson ruled Sept. 13 that the lawsuit could proceed, dismissing some counts at the state police’s request, but allowing others to stand.

“Broadly speaking, we think it’s only helpful to our case seeing that the Department of Justice investigation led to evidence of discrimination that warranted settlement,” said Michal Shinnar, an attorney representing the state troopers who sued their employer for discrimination in federal court.

Shinnar told The Sun that the legal team looked forward to seeing the complete terms of the state police’s settlement with the Justice Department.

“We believe that our case will continue to show that these issues of discrimination at Maryland State Police are systemic and affecting officers of color and we look forward to continuing to litigate our case in federal court,” Shinnar said.