(a) (1) A law enforcement agency shall designate an employee as a victims’ rights advocate to act as the contact for the public within the agency on matters related to police misconduct. (2) A victims’ rights advocate shall: (i) explain to a complainant: 1. the complaint, investigation, administrative charging committee, and trial board process; 2. any decision to terminate an investigation; 3. an administrative charging committee’s decision of administratively charged, not administratively charged, unfounded, or exonerated; and 4. a trial board’s decision; (ii) provide a complainant with an opportunity to review a police officer’s statement, if any, before completion of an investigation by a law enforcement agency’s investigative unit; (iii) notify a complainant of the status of the case at every stage of the process; and (iv) provide a case summary to a complainant within 30 days after final disposition of the case. (b) Each law enforcement agency shall create a database that enables a complainant to enter the complainant’s case number to follow the status of the case as it proceeds through: (1) investigation; (2) charging; (3) offer of discipline; (4) trial board; (5) ultimate s a complainant to enter the complainant’s case number to follow the status of the case as it proceeds through: (1) investigation; (2) charging; (3) offer of discipline; (4) trial board; (5) ultimate discipline; and (6) appeal.
Maryland Legal Code