Press Release: DC Police Reform Commission Recommends Decentering MPD To Improve Public Safety

News Release — DC Police Reform Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT

Vasuki Wilson

Pathbreaking Report Calls for Strengthening Community Safety Nets, Reimagining Responses to Crises and Decentering the Metropolitan Police Department

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 1, 2021 – The DC Police Reform Commission today released its final report: Decentering Police to Improve Public Safety, which recommends measures to strengthen community safety nets, provide a broader set of responders to people who need help,eliminate tactics that have proven harmful or unhelpful, and make the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) more transparent and accountable. 

The DC Council gave the Commission a “broad mandate” to provide recommendations on how to re-envision public safety in the District. The final report’s recommendations include increasing investment in communities, schools and health and ensuring availability of a broader array of first responders tailored to community needs. The final report’s key findings show that over-reliance on DC police is preventing investments in other public safety tools that would be more effective at revitalizing neighborhoods and preventing harm. Additional recommendations focus on building up the District’s violence interruption programs and the creation of a deputy auditor for public safety within the Office of the DC Auditor. The Commission also recommends codifying limits on police officers’ authority to search homes, frisk pedestrians, conduct traffic stops, interrogate children, and make custodial arrests.

“I salute the tireless work of the Commission to develop evidence-informed best practices,” said DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. “This report offers important recommendations. Those recommendations are independent, objective, and community-based. This proposal establishes ways to ensure public safety, while responding to the crisis of over-policing that confronts our country.”

“Police alone should never be responsible for public safety–because public safety is too multifaceted to ever be addressed by policing and the criminal legal system alone,” said Commission Co-Chair Christy Lopez. “Effective  public safety requires community-building solutions. It is time to reassess our reliance on policing and invest in community resources and social support systems that build safer and stronger neighborhoods. It is the right time for the District’s leaders to dedicate the necessary resources and personnel to act on the strategies and tools outlined in this report.”  

“Our evidence-informed recommendations will enable the MPD, the Mayor and the Council to make transformative advancements to improve safety and reduce violence in the District,” said Commission Co-Chair Robert Bobb. “We have the capabilities — programs, infrastructure, talent and commitment  — to meet the District’s public safety needs–and that’s a good thing, because we will never meet those needs if we rely only on MPD alone for community safety.”

A copy of the full report is available on the Public Reform Commission’s website or available for download here.  

The Commission will hold a press conference to review the report Thursday, April 1st at 1pm EST. Register to attend at bit.ly/DCPRC. 

ABOUT THE DC POLICE REFORM COMMISSION 

The DC Police Reform Commission was established by DC Council Act 23-336. The purpose of the Commission is to examine policing practices and provide evidence-informed recommendations to reform and reimagine policing in the District. The DC Police Reform Commission includes 20 leading experts and advocates with decades of experience who for the past eight months held more than five meetings every week to listen carefully to the community, organizations, and MPD; review information that was provided, and develop thoughtful, well-supported recommendations.