About Us
About Us
The Police Accountability Task Force of Howard County (PATF-HoCo) is a group of like-minded community activists who are all long-term residents of the county. We organized in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, to take action within Howard County to address issues and concerns around racial inequality/disparities in policing.
PATF-HoCo members are Jacqueline Akinpelu, Bill Cozzo, Jim Gormley, Angie Page, and Ted Stewart.
Body Worn Cameras
PATF-HoCo advocated for the implementation of a Howard County police body-worn camera (BWC) program and a best-practice BWC policy. After a concerted PATF-HoCo campaign, the BWC program was funded and approved for implementation in Howard County for FY2022.
PATF-HoCo researched BWC policy best practices and developed a set of key considerations for the effective implementation of a BWC program, which we shared with the County’s law enforcement leadership.
Police Accountability Board
The County Executive introduced CB 83-2021 in October 2021 to establish a Police Accountability Board (PAB) for Howard County. This initial bill was seriously flawed. PATF-HoCo took on a leadership advocacy role to improve the bill. Due to our successful engagement with members of the County Council, several corrective amendments were introduced and adopted in February 2022 that better positioned the PAB to promote police accountability and transparency.