Office of the State Prosecutor expands special-victims and misconduct unit as complaints spike
January 26, 2024 | Public Safety, Transportation, and Environment Subcommittee, Budget and Taxation Committee, SENATE, SENATE, Committees, Legislative, Maryland
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The Office of the State Prosecutor asked the Senate subcommittee to track a new unit devoted to official misconduct and special victims as overall complaints to the office rose sharply in fiscal 2023.
Jacob Polikoff, the DLS analyst on the OSP budget, told the committee the fiscal 2025 allowance increases by about $307,353 (11.1%) to roughly $3.0 million, driven mainly by personnel costs after a large drop in the agency’s turnover rate. DLS noted OSP created a new unit in FY2024 to focus on official misconduct and special victims and said the agency reported receiving 58 complaints in FY23 that would fall under the unit’s purview; DLS asked OSP to report unit-specific metrics and the unit’s impact on staff workloads.
Polikoff also said total complaints reported to OSP rose to 710 in fiscal 2023 — a 62% increase over prior year — and that open investigations rose as well. DLS asked OSP to comment on whether the increase in election-law referrals and other complaints will taper and how the surge affected operations.
Charlton Howard, speaking for the State Prosecutor’s office, described recent hires assigned to the special victims and misconduct work, including a special victims prosecutor and a retired Baltimore Police detective as a special agent, and emphasized the office’s 0% vacancy rate. On election-law enforcement, Howard and deputy prosecutor Sarah David said evolving technology (mass text messages, digital dissemination) has increased the scale of possible violations and that enforcement approaches and policy remedies are under consideration.
Senators praised OSP’s work and asked about possible policy changes to address the new enforcement challenges. OSP said it is triaging complaints through a public portal — accepting many public submissions that are frequently referred to other agencies when outside OSP jurisdiction — and that tracking and referral data will be important to understanding workload and outcomes. No formal action or vote was taken at the hearing.
Jacob Polikoff, the DLS analyst on the OSP budget, told the committee the fiscal 2025 allowance increases by about $307,353 (11.1%) to roughly $3.0 million, driven mainly by personnel costs after a large drop in the agency’s turnover rate. DLS noted OSP created a new unit in FY2024 to focus on official misconduct and special victims and said the agency reported receiving 58 complaints in FY23 that would fall under the unit’s purview; DLS asked OSP to report unit-specific metrics and the unit’s impact on staff workloads.
Polikoff also said total complaints reported to OSP rose to 710 in fiscal 2023 — a 62% increase over prior year — and that open investigations rose as well. DLS asked OSP to comment on whether the increase in election-law referrals and other complaints will taper and how the surge affected operations.
Charlton Howard, speaking for the State Prosecutor’s office, described recent hires assigned to the special victims and misconduct work, including a special victims prosecutor and a retired Baltimore Police detective as a special agent, and emphasized the office’s 0% vacancy rate. On election-law enforcement, Howard and deputy prosecutor Sarah David said evolving technology (mass text messages, digital dissemination) has increased the scale of possible violations and that enforcement approaches and policy remedies are under consideration.
Senators praised OSP’s work and asked about possible policy changes to address the new enforcement challenges. OSP said it is triaging complaints through a public portal — accepting many public submissions that are frequently referred to other agencies when outside OSP jurisdiction — and that tracking and referral data will be important to understanding workload and outcomes. No formal action or vote was taken at the hearing.
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