Coalition Urges D.C. Council to Remove Anti-Transparency Provisions in Latest Crime Bill
The latest D.C. crime-fighting legislation, headed for initial action this week, includes three provisions that will have “very significant, detrimental impacts on law enforcement transparency and accountability,” according to a letter today (15) from the Open Government Coalition to the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety.
The 93-page, 24,000-word proposal from committee chair Brooke Pinto (Ward 2), the Secure D.C. Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024, is set to be considered by the committee and passed on for voting by the full D.C. Council as early as January 23. Initial press reports found Council members expecting the measure to pass, though amendments are always in order.
The Coalition letter applauds how the new draft rejects anti-transparency changes the administration, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and the police union sought. The Coalition urges specific amendments to remove remaining troublesome segments, warning the latest draft still includes “legally unsupportable” changes that “will not increase public safety but will fuel long-standing distrust of law enforcement.”
Three provisions in particular would make public access to information harder in different ways—keeping secret the officers shown in body-cam videos, burying some officer gun-discharge incidents, and limiting relevant details of officers’ history in released discipline files.
Specifically, these would:
- Repeal a provision in the police reform act that prohibits the MPD from redacting law enforcement officers’ faces and badge numbers from body-worn camera (BWC) videos before release to the public.
- Allow MPD to deny the public access to BWC video of police-involved shootings in which an officer shoots an animal or negligently discharges a firearm, but the department deems the shot not to have endangered humans.
- Allow MPD, when responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for disciplinary records, to withhold medical records and records of an officer’s “use of an employee assistance program, including mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment service, counseling, or therapy,” even when those records are directly material to the complaint or disposition of it.
Details about these three concerns are in the full letter from the Coalition to Committee Chair Brooke Pinto and members.
Council “mark-up” sessions where legislation is voted out of committee are open. Still, public comment is not allowed even though bills often differ greatly from those aired at hearings. Instead, the public may email members and ask for changes in draft bills before markup. Here’s how to reach committee members:
Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), callen@dccouncil.gov
Anita Bonds (D-At Large), abonds@dccouncil.gov
Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7), vgray@dccouncil.gov
Christina Henderson (I-At Large), chenderson@dccouncil.gov
Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), bpinto@dccouncil.gov
For additional information, contact Coalition Board Member Robert Becker at (202) 306-2276.