Parole officer's murder sparks probe into Md. Division of Parole and Probation
BALTIMORE -- Maryland lawmakers conducted a public safety hearing Thursday, five months after a Maryland parole officer was murdered while conducting a home check-in on a convicted sex offender.
Lawmakers are working to determine where the Department of Parole and Probation went wrong and what is being done to prevent another tragedy like this from happening in the future
An investigation after Agent Davis Martinez's death revealed several shortcomings within the department. One of the most glaring was that other agents had brought up concerns about the same offender in the past. Those concerns were never addressed by their leadership.
On May 31, Maryland parole officer, agent Davis Martinez, went to the home of convicted sex offender Emmanuel Sewell in Chevy Chase for a check-in.
When Martinez didn't return back to the office, officers went to Sewell's apartment and found Martinez's body inside. According to a police statement, Martinez suffered multiple undisclosed injuries. His death was ruled a homicide.
This raised concerns about safety within the department.
"We look forward to getting to the bottom of how this happened and how we can avoid anything like this in the future," Del. Ben Barnes (D) of District 21 said.
During a hearing on Thursday, Carolyn Scruggs, Maryland's Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said an internal investigation after the murder revealed a lack of urgency from supervisors when concerns were brought up, a lack of communication, and a need for enhanced safety measures.
Scruggs says the department has implemented additional staff training, added alert flags within the case database for parolees with a violent history, and upgraded bullet-proof vests and pepper spray.
According to her, the department is "working continuously on developing measures to improve conditions and provide added protections for the increased safety of all staff."
However, the union which represents Maryland parole officers is far from satisfied.
Representatives say they need more cooperation from the department, and they want to see actual policy changes based on input from the agents in the field.
"They've put up a number of ideas, but they don't have the resources to execute on them and they don't have the wherewithal to execute on them, Patrick Moran, President of AFSME MD said. "And they're being quite dishonest in some instances here."
Other questions were raised during the meeting about whether agents should be wearing body cams and if they should be armed.
