Ronald Hampton: Increasing incarceration is not a pathway to safety
DC residents deserve to be safe in their homes and neighborhoods, and they are understandably demanding city leaders address the recent rise in homicides and gun violence with actions that will ensure their communities are safe, thriving places to live. Unfortunately, the pending “Secure DC” omnibus bill — up for initial consideration by the DC Council on Tuesday — won’t make communities across the District any safer but instead will hurt our long-term public safety.
As a former Metropolitan Police Department officer — and as a native Washingtonian deeply committed to making our neighborhoods strong and vibrant — I understand that this moment calls for meaningful public safety solutions, not more of the same pro-mass-incarceration policies that have hurt our neighborhoods for decades.
The omnibus bill authored by Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto includes a number of troubling policies — for example, expanding pretrial detention, increasing penalties for retail theft and other offenses, and reviving ineffective “drug-free zones” — that have harmed generations of DC residents and have eroded community trust. These policies ignore the decades of research that makes clear that incarceration is one of the most expensive and least effective ways to create safer communities. Instead of doubling down on policies that will increase incarceration, DC leaders must take a data-driven approach to public safety, one built on evidence and collaboration.
During my time as a police officer, I saw firsthand how our reliance on mass incarceration has torn our communities apart, deepening the trauma felt by residents across the District — particularly in Black communities. Yet many of the proposals in Secure DC focus exclusively on making our justice system more punitive, rather than implementing strategies proven effective at lowering crime.
While these draconian proposals may provide for catchy sound bites, the data is clear: More pretrial incarceration and longer sentences do little to deter crime, and they’ll result in more DC residents ripped out of their jobs and away from their families. They are also bound to worsen existing racial disparities in the District.
The proposals to lower the retail theft felony threshold will subject even more people to harsh prison sentences and the collateral consequences of a felony conviction without making us safer. Under the proposed change, for example, anyone caught shoplifting property worth a total of $500 — which may be aggregated over a six-month period — would face up to 10 years in prison. However, there’s no evidence that such changes will have any impact on property crime or larceny rates. In fact, a 2018 report found that states that increased the felony threshold for retail theft experienced the same overall decline in property crimes as states that did not.
Additionally, the plan to revive “drug-free zones” after the council previously voted to repeal this same policy is a mistake. Long discredited as arbitrary and ineffective — police are already allowed to disperse, detain, or even arrest people suspected of engaging in drug-dealing activity — these zones open the door to racial profiling and harassment of DC residents. Coupled with other measures that roll back recent police transparency and accountability reforms, this will likely harm police-community relations.
Secure DC won’t just expand mass incarceration in the District — it will increase costs without improving public safety. DC already spends over $135,000 per year to incarcerate a single person. Based on the increase of people in pretrial detention alone, DC is estimated to incur an additional $10 million over four years. Law enforcement and the majority of criminal justice professionals recognize that in order to improve public safety, we need to focus resources on what works to prevent crime and address its underlying causes.
Law enforcement officers know that our communities are safest when we work in partnership to build trust among residents. Fortunately, there are steps the District can take to build trust and reduce violence with a data-driven, community-based approach, including fully implementing the comprehensive recommendations made in the Washington, DC Gun Violence Reduction Strategic Plan. It’s encouraging that the Secure DC legislation has provisions to improve coordination among various agencies and to increase availability of program data to the public. The proposals to create new positions to streamline government services for victims and for emerging adults could also benefit our city. Broadening the scope of resources and assistance for residents such as family support, educational opportunities, mental health services and addiction treatment remains crucial to building a safer and more resilient city for all.
We all have a shared goal of being safe in our communities. In order to accomplish that goal, DC leaders must advance effective, long-term public safety solutions. Increasing incarceration and mandating harsher sentences are failed policies of the past, and we cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. City leaders must instead take urgent action on the policies that will truly keep all of us safe.
Ronald E. Hampton is a retired 24-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department and served as the executive director of the National Black Police Association for over 20 years.
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