INDEPENDENT MONITOR SELECTED FOR JUSTICE DEPARTMENT'S AGREEMENT WITH PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced the selection of an Independent Monitor to help implement its agreement with the Prince George’s County Police Department concerning the Police Department’s use of force.

The Justice Department, working together with Prince George's County and the Prince George's County Police Department (PGPD), selected Eduardo Gonzalez, former Chief of the Tampa, Florida Police Department, and the Alexandria Group to serve as the Independent Monitor of the Memorandum of Agreement signed January 22, 2004. For the next three years, the Independent Monitor will be closely involved in ensuring the PGPD's compliance with the agreement. The Monitor will evaluate the PGPD's implementation of widespread use of force reforms, provide technical assistance to the PGPD in achieving these reforms, and issue regular public reports on the PGPD's progress.

"We are confident that the experience and expertise of Chief Gonzalez and the Alexandria Group will assist the County and Police Department in implementing the timely and meaningful reforms the agreement requires," said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “We are grateful for the cooperation of County Executive Jack Johnson and Chief Melvin High in working to select the Independent Monitor through a comprehensive nationwide search.”

This agreement resulted from an investigation conducted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. A parallel investigation of an alleged pattern or practice of excessive force in the PGPD's use of canines was resolved by a consent decree entered by a federal district court in March 2004.

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