Department of Legislative Services - Data Collection - Violent Crimes

HB 1304 requires Maryland's Department of State Police to submit detailed, annual crime data to the Department of Legislative Services by November 30 each year. This data includes violent crime statistics (homicide, rape, robbery, assault, etc.) broken down by victim/offender age, race, ethnicity, sex, location, and whether an arrest was made or the incident was a hate crime. The bill also mandates a work plan to improve hate crime data collection and reporting, and requires the Department of Legislative Services to submit annual reports on this data to the Governor and General Assembly by June 30 starting in 2026. The law directly affects law enforcement data collection practices and state government reporting processes.