Bel Air Commissioner pushes back after resident demands police review

A Bel Air woman asked town commissioners Monday to bring in an outside agency to evaluate the police department — and a commissioner fired back, saying the department “knocks it out of the park.”

What happened: Wendy Camley addressed the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners during the public comment period at Monday’s town hall meeting, telling the board she has raised concerns about police leadership at the last two town hall meetings and has gotten nothing back.

“To date, I have not received a response or seen evidence that the commissioners have acted on my request,” Camley said.

Camley said she is worried about how close commissioners are to the department they are supposed to oversee. “I am increasingly concerned regarding the professional boundaries between the commissioners and the police department,” she said.

What she’s asking for: Camley called for a formal, outside review of the Bel Air Police Department — not one conducted by the commissioners themselves. “I am asking that an independent agency such as a national accreditation body conduct the evaluation of the police department,” she said.

The commissioner’s response: Commissioner Jakob Taylor pushed back directly during the meeting’s commissioner comment period, rejecting the idea that any outside review is needed.

“We evaluate the police department every day. We see them in action. We talk to the leadership. We’re engaged. And my evaluation is that our department knocks it out of the park,” Taylor said.

Taylor pointed to the recent promotions of First Sergeant James Frell and Detective Sergeant Henry Marchesani — both effective July 2026 — as proof of the department’s strength, and dismissed the weight of Camley’s repeated appearances before the board.

“A statement’s veracity is not proportionate to how many times it’s repeated. A statement’s veracity is tied to evidence. And the evidence that our department is second to none is out there on the street every day. It’s in the men and women who wear its badge,” he said.

No commissioner announced any plans to conduct an evaluation or formally respond to Camley’s request.

The other side: John Stump, who lives on East Broadway in Bel Air, also spoke during public comment and backed the department. “Continued support for our police department matters and so does our support for the leaders and the officers who are out there every day,” Stump said. He addressed Police Chief Moore directly: “Chief Moore, to you and your team, my respect, sir.”

The backdrop: Camley did not name a specific incident in her Monday comments, but her concerns come roughly seven weeks after a Bel Air police officer shot and killed a man during a traffic stop.

On August 15, Officer Christopher Birch shot 57-year-old Francisco Aparicio-Munoz in the back during a stop on Franklin Street. Aparicio-Munoz died at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Birch had joined the Bel Air Police Department about two months before the shooting. He had three years of prior police experience.

The Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division — a state office that reviews police use-of-force cases — is investigating the shooting. Body-camera footage has not been released. Investigators say they need more time to finish interviewing witnesses. Town officials have said Birch was treated at a hospital for injuries from the confrontation, but authorities have not publicly explained why Birch stopped Aparicio-Munoz, what started the physical confrontation, or what happened between the two men before Birch fired.