jonetta rose barras: Blind or misdirected ambition on the DC Council

The DC Council may shift millions of taxpayer dollars in the fiscal year 2021 local  budget to fund or expand violence interruption programs for which there has been no significant or objective evaluation. Neither the Office of the Attorney General nor the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE), the two agencies that oversee the initiatives, has conducted its own internal assessment.

“Because the program has been operational for only a short time, available data is minimal,” an OAG spokesperson told me via email. The office’s Cure the Streets initiative operates in six locations within wards 5, 7 and 8. Two of the projects started in 2018; the others began this year. The agency spends about $800,000 annually per site. 

“It will take several years to produce sufficient data to provide reliable results,” added the spokesperson. The OAG said that between Oct. 1, 2018, and June 5, 2020, Cure the Streets conducted “109 conflict mediations designed to interrupt a gun-related incident.”

A spokesperson for ONSE said it decided to forgo “costly or time-consuming program evaluations” as its programs were “still evolving and data was limited.” The agency is currently working with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Government Excellence to help improve its “performance management“ and “data infrastructure,” among other things.

The agency spokesperson said that “as of mid-June, we’ve experienced an 11% decrease in violent crime in ONSEs areas [located in wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8] compared to a 10% decrease in violent crimes citywide.”

While DC has seen an overall drop in violent crime, homicides are up; many murders have been in violence interrupters’ territory. 

ONSE officials have said it’s difficult to quantify “the number of violent crimes averted and lives not lost due to our prevention and intervention efforts.” The agency contracts with three organizations to run programs that are specifically designed for the areas they cover. Those programs operate separately from the ones overseen by OAG.

“We essentially have three or four types of interrupters. But they are not talking to each other,” said one of six activists I spoke with for this column who have intimate knowledge of the prevention programs. 

“They also are hiring people who are not of the community,” continued the activist. “If they don’t know the people in a community, then [the government] is just giving somebody some money.”

Despite the dearth of data, the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, chaired by Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen, has proposed increasing their funding to more than $7 million. If approved by the full council, ONSE would receive nearly $2 million. The OAG would see its settlements account increased by $7 million; Allen said most of that money would be used to add two to four new Cure the Streets sites. The OAG spokesperson said officials have not made a final decision on how many new sites might be created.

Nevertheless, money would come from the city’s $8 billion local budget for fiscal year 2021. The expected total budget is $16.7 billion. 

Meanwhile, Allen has recommended cuts to the Metropolitan Police Department’s overall budget. He has rejected Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposal to increase funding for the cadet program, which trains a cadre of young District residents who go on to have careers with MPD. During the administrative meeting, Allen justified his recommendations, arguing that DC is facing a moment “unlike any other” and that it must act in a “condensed time frame.” 

“The overarching goal is how to be responsive and responsible” to demands made by residents and others, including Black Lives Matter, to “defund the police,” Allen continued. “The amount of rethinking that is required is not just going to happen in one budget.” 

Greg Rhett, a Ward 7 civic leader, said he likes the “direction Allen is taking the committee” and supports police reforms. He worried, however, about the speed in which the changes are taking place. He was concerned that some people in the community are lining up to financially exploit the violence interruption programs, securing contracts or employment, without necessarily fulfilling the demands of the jobs. “There must be highly structured and detailed oversight,” Rhett said.

Bernard Demczuk, a former George Washington University professor whose academic work focuses on African American history and culture, said he has trained 4,600 MPD employees — civilians and police officers — to enhance cultural sensitivity and provide an understanding of the brutal history of policing in the country. He said he has seen the transformative effect on individual officers, including those who are white.

“I think we’re moving too fast, acting in the moment,” continued Demczuk. He agreed that some reforms are needed, including several approved last month by the council through emergency legislation. He and his colleague Sharita Jacobs-Thompson have been advocating a 12-step program that calls for, among other things, ending the culture of toxic masculinity, halting paramilitary training and creating a consistent anti-racism dialogue.  

The council is expected to hold hearings when it considers a permanent version of its earlier legislation. “When they start holding hearings, [hopefully] it will slow things down to be more deliberative,” added Demczuk.

Don’t count on it. 

The growing assessment in DC and around the country, unfortunately, is that all police departments are the work of the devil. MPD is not a candidate for public safety sainthood; it has made plenty of mistakes. However, it has been on the road to reform, as Demczuk’s training attests. The department also has worked collaboratively with other city agencies, including joining with the Department of Behavioral Health and the Department of Human Services to implement a pre-arrest diversion program. As of Dec. 31, 2018, more than 229 DC residents, many with mental health issues, had received “referrals, resources, and interventions based on their needs” via this program, according to a government report.

 “[MPD] has long been an advocate for other agencies and organizations to help address root causes of crime and disorder and respond to targeted incidents,” said a police spokesperson. “We have strong partnerships that support MPD’s work in public health and social [services]. 

“Cutting MPD funding, without a plan for shifting services and demonstrated success in doing so, is shortsighted and risky,” added the spokesperson.

I am not attacking the violence interruption programs. Rather, I see this column as seeking a protective netting. Allen’s actions may end up setting everyone up for failure. The funding shift prematurely raises the public’s expectations for these programs, without giving the OAG and the ONSE the opportunity to rigorously evaluate their programs and make improvements. 

Unfortunately, Allen was not alone in his reactionary response to the call to defund the police. Other legislators displayed a similar disposition when they met earlier this week to begin their collective deliberations on changes to Bowser’s local budget plan. 

Obviously, there are instances where council members hewed closely to the executive’s fiscal priorities, such as a 3% increase to school spending. However, many proposed adjustments expose a penchant for rash and reckless public policy and fiscal decisions. For example, at a time of extreme financial hardship for many District residents and small businesses, Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh, chair of the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, has suggested her colleagues approve a hike in fees for parking, trash disposal and vehicle tags. That would raise more than $5 million, according to her calculations.

They can’t help themselves. They are die-hard spendthrifts. 

Their scheme appears designed to appease special-interest groups — including the BLM movement, which has advocated eliminating police departments and improving racial equity. The latter goal is laudable. The former is a simplistic solution for a complex problem, especially in urban centers. 

Sadly, even demands for racial equity have devolved to the one-dimensional, like toppling statues. Some council members have proposed spending $1 million for a go-go music archive, even as there is insufficient funding for the DC Public Library, which could lead to a reduction in hours.

Chairman Phil Mendelson must make a meal from the mess. The legislature is expected to take its first vote Tuesday on the Fiscal Year 2021 Local Budget Act and Budget Support Act. 

Don’t expect legislators to return to their senses in the interim. The horse trading that has already occurred signals that deals are all but done. Consider, for example, Allen took money saved from cuts to agencies under his purview and transferred them to the Committee on Recreation and Youth Affairs, headed by Ward 8’s Trayon White. That looks generous, right? Except, most of those funds — approximately $4.3 million — are being directed to improve recreation facilities in Allen’s Ward 6. 

While helping to feather his own nest, Allen pulled more than $15 million from the MPD budget. He was unwilling to add even 50 more slots for the cadet program, although it is a prime vehicle for young African Americans — many of them women of color — to secure middle-class jobs and a mechanism to possibly improve relations between MPD and the communities it serves.

Rhett said the fight over the cadet program ought to wait until the city “defines what we want” in a transformed police department. However, Demczuk praised the cadet program. “We need that,” he said, adding he planned to write a letter to Allen.

It may be too late. All indications are that on Tuesday the erosion of the MPD will begin. That troubles many people, including one of the east-of-the-Anacostia River activists with whom I spoke.

“Violence interrupters deal with pre- and post-violence issues, like directing families to services,” the activist told me. “Responding to violence — that is what police are supposed to do.

“They can demilitarize the police. But they can’t defund the police,” continued the activist. “That stuff doesn’t affect them like it affects us.”

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jonetta rose barras is an author and freelance journalist, covering national and local issues including politics, childhood trauma, public education, economic development and urban public policies. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.