It took two weeks, but Anne Arundel County's police chief, James Teare Sr. finally released the names of three officers involved in two shootings last month. The Baltimore Sun's Andrea Siegel details the cases in today's newspaper.

In January, I took Baltimore police to task for changing its policy of quickly releasing the names of police who shoot people, arguing it undermined promises to run an open, transparent and accountable department and prevented the public from learning crucial details of the officers, their past history and the outcomes of the investigation into the shootings. Baltimore police are still reviewing their new policy.

So we wanted to hold Anne Arundel County to the same standard -- officials had told us when we compared the policies of various departments that they release the names within 12 to 24 hours. But when we sought the names in the two most recent shootings, we were told there is no timetable and the  names might not be released until the investigation is complete.

But Teare called me Tuesday afternoon to clarify. There is no timetable, but the chief conceded that two weeks is too long to wait to learn the names of officers who fire their guns. He blamed the delays on the unusual circumstances of dealing with back-to-back-to-back police shootings that also delayed some of the steps the department takes before making names of its officers public.

"It was beyond my normal expectations,” the chief said. “There is no reason for me not to release that information. We are public servants. We are paid by the public and the public should be knowledgeable about what’s going on in the department, especially when deadly force is involved.”

County police spokesman Justin Mulcahy then sent out news releases with the names of the officers — Dwayne Raidford, who had already been named in court charging documents, along with Lt. Harry Peterson, a 20-year veteran, and Officer Walter weeney, who has been on the force four years.

It's refreshing to learn that Teare gets that the names are important, and I hope to city reveals its decision on whether to revamp its own policy.