In order for more than 200 pages of police reform to become mandatory in Baltimore, a court needs to accept the terms.
There are questions for U.S. District Court Judge James Bredar including the cost of the reforms, the details of a monitoring plan and the clarity of some reforms.
The judge wanted the mayor of Baltimore present for a hearing originally scheduled for Jan. 24, but soon after the new president was sworn in on Friday, a delay was almost immediately filed by new leadership at the Department of Justice.
“Because of the change in administration, the department of justice also experienced a transition in leadership,” the court filing read, “The United States requires additional time in order to brief the new leadership of the department on the case at bar and the proposed Consent Decree before making any representations to the court.”
The delay and the language is a concern for some like Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott.
"I think you have to have some level of concern about it with all the effort that we put into it and knowing the new administration and some of the things that they have done in just their first few days in office but I trust the mayor and her team are still working," Scott said.
Scott knows police consent decrees are not high up on the new administration’s list of priorities.
The councilman hopes this continuance is just that, simply a delay needed by the feds during a government transition.
"That raises a high level of concern. I think the alarms aren't ringing yet but we just have to sit, wait and see what happens and just be prepared to do the work ourselves," Scott said.
To that end, Councilman Scott is introducing a resolution at Monday's city council meeting to help address the cost of reforms. The resolution asks the police department to take a hard look at its $480 million budget to see where it can chip in.
"One of the ideas that Councilman Scott has come up with is looking for opportunities to create efficiencies," said fellow Councilman Eric Costello.
Costello is the chairman of the budget and appropriations committee and knows reforms could cost tens of millions of dollars over a few years.
And while the mayor is looking to the state and city for financial support, Costello says it is a good idea to look inward as well.
"It's going to cost a lot of money and I think we are going to need to explore every avenue for how we are going to pay for this and of course that includes looking within the department," Costello said.
That resolution to study the BPD budget will be introduced tonight.
Meanwhile the federal court hearing on the consent decree has been pushed back February 1. That hearing should provide a clear picture of how the new administration will proceed.
