Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005
From: Maryland Justice Coalition

Thought you'd like to know that House Bill 578, the bill that would have made it a criminal offense for people to refuse to identify themselves to a police officer, was defeated yesterday!

Many thanks to everyone who called, e-mailed, faxed and wrote their elected officials.

And special thanks to the ACLU, the NAACP, CASA of Maryland, and other organizations who organized the press conference that drew so much attention to the bill.

We want our law enforcement officials to have the tools they need to keep us safe, and we thank our officials for the work they do everyday. Given the deficiencies in our criminal justice system, however, HB 578 would have done more harm than good.

See, grassroots organizing and advocacy does work!!