WASHINGTON (CN) — The Justice Department announced Friday it is investigating whether the Maryland Department of State Police engages in racially discriminatory hiring and promotion practices.
“Discrimination has no place in any workplace, and especially in law enforcement agencies,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division said in a statement Friday. “Our investigation will determine whether the Maryland Department of State Police has created racially discriminatory barriers for Black people seeking job opportunities and promotions and, if so, identify the reforms necessary to ensure equal employment opportunities.”
The investigation will consider if there is a “pattern or practice” of race discrimination that violates the Civil Rights Act. Black troopers went before state lawmakers in 2021 to allege the department’s disparate treatment of them. Data from last year showed that of the state police department's roughly 1,400 troopers, around 1,200 were white while just 172 were Black.
Earlier this summer, reports circulated that an offensive challenge coin depicting female genitalia, reading “these ****** can’t take a pounding” was being passed around the Maryland State Police Department, directed at Black troopers.
Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, superintendent of the Maryland State Police, said he was made aware of the investigation Friday morning and maintained that within the state agency, “significant actions have been taken and are continuing to address even the perception of racism or unfair treatment of any kind.”
“I have implemented new procedures and initiatives, opened new lines of communication and hired subject matter experts, all for the purpose of ensuring the Department addresses these issues and is a law enforcement leader in these matters,” Jones said in a statement Friday, referencing his collaboration with the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers, Legislative Black Caucus, Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and Maryland State Police Office of Equity and Inclusion.
Jones pledged the department will cooperate fully with the investigation.
Michael Ricci, spokesman for Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan, echoed the governor's office would fully cooperate as well in a statement Friday.
“It is important to ensure any wrongdoing is addressed, so we welcome this investigation,” he added.
This investigation marks the latest in a series of probes by the Biden administration’s Justice Department into police departments around the country concerning racial discrimination by police officers. In cities like Minneapolis and Louisville and the state of Louisiana, the cases are centered on whether police engage in racially discriminatory policing of civilians.
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