DC Council to vote on police reform
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - The D.C. council is weighing some new police reforms to supplement and strengthen previous measures that are already in place, council chairman Phil Mendelson said on Monday.
The reforms – which the chairman expects to pass – come amid a flurry of similar moves cities are considering across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
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The incident – which shows an officer pinning Floyd to the pavement for over eight minutes while he pleads for air – ignited demonstrations and protests in cities large and small across the country.
The District – which has dealt with its own history of police misconduct – was no different. For 10 days, the nation’s capital and its suburbs have seen numerous massive demonstrations.
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Mendelson said Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen has offered a number of proposals to address police conduct in D.C., including:
- A provision on neck restraints
- Changing the law regarding body cameras
- Changes to the office of police complaints
- Expand the membership of the use of force review board
- Extend the time of corrective or adverse action against a DC police officer in serious cases
- Would repeal and anti-mask law
- Would require procedural safeguards in which a person must consent to being searched
- Mandatory ongoing education, and reconstituting the police officers’ standards and training board
- Changes regarding officers’ identification during first-amendment assemblies as local law enforcement
Mendelson said he will propose his own measures including:
- A measure prohibiting police discipline from being a negotiable matter in a collective bargaining agreement
- A prohibition on the hiring of officers who have a history of misconduct in other jurisdictions
- And strengthening the office of police complaints’ access to officers’ records
Mendelson noted that many of the issues cities are addressing nationwide – such as a complaint review board – have already been addressed and instituted in the nation’s capital.
The chairman also said that some of the proposals had been made previously, but changes in the current political climate are making them more palatable to the current council.
When he was asked about a topic that has loomed large in Minneapolis and beyond – defunding the police – the chairman stressed that the council is more likely address problems in police conduct by looking at how alternatives are funded.
D.C. Police Chief Pete Newsham also spoke at the Monday news conference, noting that after a four days of protests devolving into violence, vandalism and looting, the police have had cause to make few arrests since.
Newsham said the protests that have gone on since last Wednesday have been practically exclusively peaceful – with police making minimal arrests.