A short trip to Las Vegas has ended a long police career in Maryland's largest county. Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada resigned Friday after an inspector general's probe concluded he misled investigators about how a relative—identified in a whistleblower complaint as his police officer son—ended up accompanying him to a law enforcement conference there as his "protection detail," the Washington Post reports. The inspector general's report said Yamada claimed he wasn't involved in choosing his relative to accompany him on the trip, but investigators "revealed this to be false."
The report said Yamada had violated county code by misleading investigators. The report also found that Yamada failed to log any leave over roughly two years despite being off duty at times, including for a golf tournament. County Executive Marc Elrich said his office asked for Yamada's resignation. "This stuff was serious enough we didn't have a choice," Elrich said Friday. He said it was "really surprising" that Yamada's law enforcement career was ending this way. Yamada, who was confirmed as chief in 2024 after 37 years on the force, told colleagues in an email that he was retiring and called serving them "the privilege of my lifetime."
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund President Jason Johnson says the development is "very frustrating and disappointing for rank-and-file officers," 7News reports. "For sure, leadership changes aren't great, especially abrupt ones, especially those that are done somewhat under a cloud," Johnson says. "Rank-and-file police officers are the ones that have to pay the price when the trust is eroded because of how they're treated in their daily duties and interacting with the public."
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