Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers Not Being Allowed to Attend Black Law Enforcement Conference

The National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, Inc. (NABLEO) will hold their 2025 Education and Training Conference, Board of Directors meetings, and Awards and Scholarship Ceremonies from Wednesday, September 24th thru Friday, September 26th at the Harborside Hotel in Oxon Hills, MD.

However, while the three-day series of events, themed “Rebuilding Equality in Law Enforcement”,  is open to all sworn or civilian (active or retired) members of Municipal, County, State, Campus, and Federal law enforcement agencies, as well as the staff and leadership of the organizations that make up their community partnerships, students and faculty involved in criminal justice programs at the various colleges and universities, members of NABLEO’s local chapter and conference host organization, the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers, are being refused permission to participate or attend.

According to Lieut. Charles Wilson (Ret.), National Chairman, a policy initiated by the Maryland State Police in mid-July of this year, is being used to refuse permission for members of their local chapter to attend the conference. Yet it has been known since November of last year that members of the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers would be the host organization for the various conference proceedings, workshops, awards programs, and the National Board of Directors meetings that will take place. Registrations to attend the conference have already been received from officers from CT, DC, MA, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA, and parts of MD.

Lieut. Wilson stated, “We recognize that some agencies are hesitant to send officers to this program due to current administrative attitudes about supposed DEI programs. We also acknowledge that agencies should be allowed to determine who and when they can afford to send people to various training programs and that they must be mindful of their budgets. This is one of the specific reasons that we had provided the State Police with a series of complimentary registrations, so as to defray training costs. In addition, many of our conference attendees have always seen fit to pay their own expenses, thus eliminating costs to their agencies.

In our view, there appears to be a complete lack of support from the Maryland State Police, the agency represented in our host chapter. During earlier conversations and planning meetings, we had been assured of their cooperation by their Senior Advisor for State and Local Law Enforcement Partnerships and the Captain in charge of the Training Division.

As a result, we believe this situation represents a serious lack of integrity, professionalism, and obvious administrative indifference, and a continuing failure to adequately address issues specific to Black members of the agency. While we are still assessing the possible impact this will have on our conference, we are working on all levels to make this event a success, not only for our organization but for the DMV area as a whole.”

The conference will feature lectures and panel discussions designed to be of interest to both law enforcement personnel and their community partners, and is designed to provide law enforcement officers with greater tools, knowledge and skills for interacting with people, particularly in communities of color. A special program in Retirement Preparation, which will be offered free of charge to community members, will also be presented.

Conference sessions will also feature their Board of Directors’ meetings. Board members represent nearly 10,000 members from CA, CO, CT, GA, IL, MA, MD, MI, MO, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, VA and WA.

Friday evening will feature a Scholarship and Awards Ceremony beginning with a reception from 6:00 PM until 7:00 PM, followed by dinner. Members of law enforcement and the community will be recognized for their accomplishments and efforts towards building stronger bridges between police and community. Among those being honored will be Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy (Law Enforcement Leadership Award), State Senator Joanne Benson (Community Leadership Award), Capt. Thomas Boone (Community Policing Award), Ryan Coleman (Community Service Award), Dr. Lorenzo Boyd and the Westchester-Rockland Guardians Association (Chairman’s Award), Mae Smith (Lifetime Achievement Award), and four student recipients of the Children of Courage Scholarship Award.

Source: NABLEO

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UPDATE – 5:50 PM (EST) 

Statement from Lieut. Charles Wilson (Ret.) of NABLEO

“This afternoon, after our original press statement was released, we received a letter from Col. Roland Butler of the Maryland State Police indicating that, as long as officers submit a formal request for training to attend our conference, they may be approved to attend on-duty, so long as they are able to identify a funding source.

We are taking this to mean that the members of our MD host chapter will be able to attend the conference as long as they either have a specifically assigned complimentary registration issued by our conference staff, or they indicate that their fees for attendance will be individually paid either by themselves or their chapter organization. We have also been advised that our host chapter is prepared to pay for their members to attend.

We are happy that our members will now be able to attend the conference and again congratulate their chapter on being the host to the members and attendees of NABLEO’s 2025 ‘Rebuilding Equality in Law Enforcement’.”