On September 24, 1991, Clarence Edwards became the chief of the MCPD, becoming the department's first African American chief as well as the first African American chief of a Maryland county police department.
Throughout much of the 1990s, the MCPD faced numerous allegations of abuse, excessive force, and misconduct, including fatal officer-involved shootings in Wheaton and Silver Spring in April 1999 and March 1999, respectively.