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| Marcus Jones confirmed as Montgomery County police chief in unanimous council vote | Marcus Jones confirmed as Montgomery County police chief in unanimous council vote |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Marcus Jones to become the county’s next police chief, capping a tumultuous, 10-month search for the high-profile position in Maryland’s most populous region. | |
| The Montgomery County executive wanted his new police chief to be an outsider. But his favorite candidates kept bailing out. | The Montgomery County executive wanted his new police chief to be an outsider. But his favorite candidates kept bailing out. |
| A 34-year veteran of the department, Jones, 55, has served as the county’s acting chief since June in an opening created by the retirement of his predecessor, J. Thomas Manger, after 15 years as chief. | |
| “I am humbled by the opportunity of this nomination,” Jones said Tuesday while answering questions from council members. The county force has 1,300 sworn officers. | |
| Earlier this year, County Executive Marc Elrich (D), the county’s top elected official, had promised a diligent, nationwide search for his new chief. Jones was one of about two dozen applicants. | |
| Elrich came to believe he needed a chief from outside Montgomery’s department to drive reforms. The county executive wants more community policing strategies, designed to gain the trust and friendship of residents, and wants the police to dial back what he feels are overly intrusive stops of motorists and pedestrians. | |
| Elrich’s first three picks bowed out of the process, prompting him to offer the job to Jones in September. | |
| Before the council vote, one member asked Jones about his communication and relationship with Elrich and how the incoming chief would “envision that relationship moving forward.” | |
| “I will say this,” Jones said. “I give much respect to any elected official and how they would have an opportunity to have a vision for what they want.” | |
| Jones said he and Elrich have good conversations and an “open dialogue” that he expects to continue. | |
| “We’ve had some really good discussions,” Jones said of himself and Elrich. “Not always that we would agree upon things — maybe in the very beginning — but I see us coming around, turning the curve, you might say.” | |
| After the confirmation vote, Jones said he never gave up on the job.“I think, initially, that was really a kick to the ego,” he said. “I never lost my direction to continue to lead the department through this until the final decision was made.” | |
| “At the end of the day,” he said, “it’s not how we started, it’s how we finished.” | |
| During much of the last year, even as Jones was passed over, he enjoyed solid support from at least five of the nine council members. | |
| Council member Craig Rice (D-District 2) said Jones should have been selected months ago after being named a finalist. “It was clear to me that you were the one and only choice,” Rice said. | |
| “You stayed in here when many others would have looked to leave. And you didn’t. And we’re so very pleased,” added council member Sidney Katz (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville), who chairs the council’s public safety committee. | |
| A native of South Boston, Va., Jones joined the Montgomery County Police Department in 1985, spending 15 years as a police officer and detective. He reached the rank of sergeant in 2000, lieutenant in 2004 and captain in 2011. Along the way, he served as the drug enforcement commander. | |
| Jones later headed up the major crimes division and commanded the department’s Silver Spring division. In 2018, he reached the rank of assistant chief, supervising all investigation divisions. | |
| Jones earned a degree in business administration in 1998 from the University of Maryland at College Park, and later attended the FBI National Academy. | |
| “His résumé is strong,” Elrich told the County Council on Tuesday, as he officially introduced Jones as his pick. “He’s demonstrated the capacity to lead.” | |
| Elrich also spoke of Jones’s ties to community leaders, and how that is more important than ever in policing. And Elrich made clear he wanted changes. | |
| “Everyone wants to see changes to make a good department even better, and rebuild the trust that has been shaken by some recent interactions between a few officers and members of the public,” he said. | |
| In Silver Spring last year, an officer followed a resident named Robert White — first in the officer’s patrol car and then on foot. He called out to White, asking him to stop. White turned and charged the officer, leading to an altercation in which the officer fatally shot him. | |
| The shooting was ruled legally justified by prosecutors, and the police department said the officer had stopped White because he thought he may have been armed. Elrich and others have long questioned the validity of the stop, and Elrich remains concerned the officer didn’t turn on his body-worn camera early in the encounter. | |
| More recently, a white police officer was recorded on video using the n-word outside a McDonald’s during an exchange with several black men. | |
| Jones said the language the officer used was the subject of an internal affairs investigation. He also promised an outside audit of his department’s traffic stops. | |
| After the council vote, the new chief acknowledged the department will have to the regain trust of many residents. “That is vitally important to me,” Jones said. | |
| And as they voted on a new chief, several council members commented on the arduous selection process. | |
| Gabe Albornoz (D-At Large) likened the search to “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts. Andrew Friedson (D-District 1) said the process evoked “What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been,” an album by the Grateful Dead. | |
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