Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Montgomery County Public Safety Committee met on Monday, October 5, 2026, to discuss two agenda items: Bill 27-26, which would prohibit unlawful racing and street takeovers, and a briefing on the Drone as First Responder (DFR) program. Councilmember Sidney Katz chaired the meeting, joined by Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Kristin Mink. The committee heard from Montgomery County Police Department officials and staff, and took public testimony.
Bill 27-26 – Unlawful Racing and Street Takeovers: Lead sponsor Councilmember Andrew Friedson (not present) and co-sponsors Councilmembers Balcombe, Luedtke, and Katz. Staff Attorney Mr. Ogorzalek presented the bill, which would prohibit participation in unlawful racing, street takeovers, exhibition driving, and related activities on public highways/roadways. It would also prohibit aiding, betting, promoting, organizing, and refusing to disperse. Violations would be Class A misdemeanors with a $1,000 fine. Councilmember Luedtke proposed two amendments: (1) cleaning up language to avoid preemption conflicts with state law; (2) raising the maximum fine to $5,000 (the county cap). Discussion focused on the definition of "street takeover" and protecting First Amendment activities. Councilmember Mink expressed concern that the definition could be used against peaceful protests (e.g., slow-moving caravans) even if not dangerous. She suggested changing "such as" to "including with limitation" to create an exhaustive list of prohibited maneuvers (burnouts, drifting, spinning donuts, acceleration exhibitions) plus "or other similar maneuvers." Councilmember Luedtke and Acting Police Chief Darren Frank argued that the current language, with prosecutorial discretion, is sufficient and that adding "with limitation" could create loopholes. Councilmember Mink also noted a parade exemption in state law. After debate, the committee voted to approve the bill as amended (with the two proposed amendments) to full council: Chair Katz and Councilmember Luedtke voted in favor; Councilmember Mink abstained, indicating she would work on further amendments at full council. The committee also agreed to a technical amendment to change "county highway" to "any highway or roadway" and authorized staff to finalize language.
Drone as First Responder (DFR) Update: Captain Tony Galidora presented a briefing on the program’s progress. Key statistics: Over 6,300 calls for service since launch in late 2023; 2,400 calls in 2026 (through September); coverage expanded to 84 square miles via six dock locations (Silver Spring, Wheaton, Bethesda, Gaithersburg/Montgomery Village, Germantown, White Oak). Transitioned to an American-made dock-based system with FAA permission to fly beyond visual line of sight (200 ft altitude, 2-mile radius per dock). Seven-day-a-week coverage (not 24hrs). A randomized trial with an academic partner (December 2025 to April 2026) found: drone was on scene before officer dispatched 41% of the time; first on scene when both dispatched 74% of the time; 19.5% of calls were resolved remotely (e.g., trespassing). Example cases: missing children found within 10 minutes; stolen vehicle located and suspect arrested. The department stressed the program is a force multiplier, not a replacement for officers. Future expansion areas considered: along I-270 corridor, Aspen Hill, Burtonsville area, pending budget and further academic study. Public transparency measures include a dashboard and no audio/microphones on drones; video treated as evidence with same retention as body cameras. No facial recognition. The committee expressed strong support for the program.
Everyone and welcome to the Public Safety Committee Work Session of Monday, October 5th, 2026. Today we have two topics on the agenda Bill 2726, motor vehicles and traffic unlawful, racing and street takeovers prohibited. And the second one is a briefing on the drones as the first responder's uptake. As we begin, I'd like to thank Mr. Ogorobzalak Ogorzalak. Did I get that right? So you can teach an old catch new tricks. And Ms. Farrov for preparing the staff reports for the topics today. And for once again an always assembling, most informative packets for us. As we begin, I'd like to thank uh the lead sponsor, Councilmember uh Friedson, for being the lead sponsor on this, and of course the co-sponsors are Council Vice President Balcom and Councilmember Lukey and myself. Uh then I'm gonna ask the public safety committee if they have any opening comments. Then we're gonna ask the I was gonna say the panel, and I see the whole panel there. Ask if the chief has any comments, and then uh ask Mr. Ogorabzilak to please walk us through the first discussion. Do you all have anything as an opening? Just uh so you are being joined by a panel. All right, yeah. You were lonely. I can understand. Would you all please introduce yourselves and good morning, Darren Frank, acting chief of police, Montgomery County? Uh Dave McBain, Chief of Special Operations Bureau. Jason Kokinos, Acting Assistant Chief for Patrol Services. Thank you all. And congratulations, by the way, for those who are acting and not acting. I mean, he's always acting. I was going to say you've been acting uh for a while. Um, and that's right. Tough league here, Monday morning. Um, Chief, did you have any opening remarks? Uh I wanted to say we we truly appreciate uh the work that uh council is doing on this issue. Uh certainly it's it's uh very important that we address it as we know our traffic fatalities are higher than we want. We believe in Vision Zero, and the reality of these street takeovers is they get people hurt and they can get people killed, and they're disrupting our community. The uh the things that we have found, I I will tell you this our patrol services and our traffic division have put together fantastic plans and operations to deal with these. Uh but we spend a lot of time and a lot of uh personnel chasing these events around Montgomery County so that something bad doesn't happen. And when we do catch up with them, we issue many citations, but more importantly, and probably more scary, we find guns, we find stolen vehicles, we've had shootings at these events. In other counties, they've had homicides. What we want to do is we want to put every tool possible we can to let these folks know that they are not welcome in Montgomery County, Maryland. Um hopefully eventually, again, the way Montgomery County does things, we'd we like to lead the way. Maybe at the state level, we can continue to enhance things after that. Because again, none of this belongs on our roadways, and and ultimately, if it's not dealt with effectively, someone is going to die in one of these in Montgomery County, and we don't want that.