Judge Can Only Discuss Law in Police Recruit Training Program

A Maryland judge asked to take part in a community awareness panel as part of a police training program for recruits can participate but with limits.

The judge asked whether it would be ethical to participate in a question-and-answer session “about police and community concerns,” Maryland’s Judicial Ethics Committee said in a Tuesday opinion.

The “topics of police reform and community-police relations are the subject of much debate,” the committee said in explaining why it decided to issue the opinion.

Since last year’s social unrest nationally triggered by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police, jurisdictions have struggled over ...