Baltimore voters will again be asked to weigh in on local control of Baltimore Police at the ballot box — this time in the form of Question E.

One of the numerous questions on city ballots this November, the potential charter amendment asks voters whether they support establishing the police department as an agency of the mayor and city council, then lays out how the police department would be governed, as it is now, by a police commissioner subject to mayoral appointment and council confirmation.

It’s the final stage, advocates hope, of a long process to return local control of the city police force to the city, rather than the state.

“Question E finally gives our city council the incontestable authority to draft legislation that governs our police department, giving the communities historically impacted by over-policing access to a process inaccessible for over a century and a half,” Ray Kelly, the executive director of the Citizens Policing Project, said in a news release.

Kelly told The Baltimore Sun by phone that he’s been frustrated by the lack of attention over Question E. Local control, he said, is the “undoing of 160 years of sustained oppression and racism in Baltimore City” that has kept the city in a place “where we’re subservient to the rest of the state.”

Until recently, the state of Maryland had control over Baltimore Police that dated back to the eve of the Civil War when state lawmakers seized authority out of concern over the violent Know Nothing Party’s influence over police.

Baltimore was the sole jurisdiction in the state where the local police department was technically a state agency. It wasn’t until 1976 that the city mayor regained the authority to select his or her own police commissioner, a push made at the time by the city’s Black leaders.

In 2022, supporters of local control hoped to once and for all return oversight to Baltimore leaders, when voters overwhelmingly approved a similar charter amendment that established the police department as an agency of Baltimore.

Instead, questions followed.

Attorneys for Baltimore warned the city could be open to litigation based on a line in the city’s charter that prohibited impeding the powers of the police commissioner. Efforts to change that language during the 2023 session of the Maryland General Assembly were unsuccessful, but passed this spring.

Question E is connected to those efforts. Under the amended state legislation, if voters approve a charter amendment providing for the powers and duties of Baltimore Police and its commissioner, along with the terms of office and appointment process, then a new section of state law will declare that the mayor and city council “shall have full power and authority” to exercise “police power.”

The bill, Senate Bill 894, sponsored by Baltimore Senator Jill Carter, goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, should voters approve it. The bill was supported by Baltimore Councilman Mark Conway, who chairs the public safety and government operations committee, as well as a representative of the Mayor’s Office, witness testimony shows.

Kelly, and the entire coalition of advocacy organizations behind the Campaign for Justice, Safety and Jobs, put out a release last week urging voters to support Question E.

The language may sound like the creation of a second police department, the release said, but it will actually mean that “Baltimore City leaders — not state leaders — will finally have control over BPD.”

That could mean, according to the Campaign for Justice, Safety and Jobs, that City Council could pass legislation targeting “crucial issues” including police conduct with demonstrators; tactics including chokeholds or no-knock warrants; and technology or weapons oversight. Another example the group cited: the potential for legislation requiring public data on police stops and searches, arrests, citations and uses of force, for instance.

Advocates have demanded city officials be given “the common sense authority” to run their own police department since before the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, from injuries suffered in police custody, supporters wrote in a 2023 op-ed.

“By voting FOR Question E, we’re not just shifting power — we’re making it clear that real power starts with the community. Our local leaders get their strength from us, and this vote ensures that future decisions about our safety reflect the voices and values of Baltimore’s residents,” said MarTaze “Taz” Gaines, senior organizer with Organizing Black.

“This is racial equity in action — restoring power to the people and giving those most impacted by this department a direct say in how it’s shaped,” Gaines continued. “It’s finally time to put this issue to rest and give Baltimore the local control it deserves.”

Ballot questions, which in Baltimore have a history of passing, can be posed to voters if approved by the Baltimore City Council or if nominated by citizens and backed by at least 10,000 voters’ signatures on a petition.

Baltimore City Council last year unanimously approved including Question E on this November’s ballots, with one council member absent. Mayor Brandon Scott, a Democrat, said at the time he supported the measure.

Sergio España, from the ACLU of Maryland, added in the release that Baltimore is “more than capable” of protecting itself, pointing to successful crime reduction and public safety measures that have been resident-led and supported by City Hall and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

“Our local elected officials and our neighbors know what’s needed to improve public safety and community well-being, we just need to make sure they have the ability to do so,” España said.

Have a news tip? Contact Darcy Costello at dcostello@baltsun.com, 443-788-5157 and x.com/dctello.