Issues

special and campus police Cosmetologists have more specialized training than armed special police officers in DC. 5 Minute Read Along with more than 3,000 Metropolitan Police Officers, there are 7,700 DC special police officers (SPOs) in DC who are privately-hired security guards assigned to guard stores, offices and...

Mandatory arrests Mandatory arrest laws deter some victims from reporting crimes. 4 Minute Read DC requires that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) make at least one arrest when responding to a domestic violence call. Forcing officers to make an arrest can make situations more dangerous, deter people from...

Jump-outs Jump-outs are DC’s scarier version of stop and frisk. 5 Minute Read When plain-clothes officers appear quickly out of unmarked cars in the community,  “jump out,” surround someone, demand that they lower their waistband and submit to a search, it decreases safety and increases the chances the...

citation in lieu of arrest Unnecessary arrests make us less safe. 4 Minute Read When police issue a citation instead of arresting someone, we avoid exposing someone to the harmful consequences that an arrest carries, reduce the use of pretrial detention, and can quickly redeploy policing resources. A...

Consent searches Consent searches are never consensual when compliance is a survival tactic. 4 Minute Read Saying “no” to an officer when they ask for consent to conduct a search can involve serious risk of violence or legal consequences. DC has tried to increase protections for the community...

how can you impact the process? How can you make DC safer, freer and more equal? There are many tactics and strategies that have been used to organize residents around the need to change laws, policies and budgets that anyone can use to make their...

Who are the lawmakers? The elected officials in DC either sit in our main legislative body, the DC Council, or are key officials, like the Mayor, who oversee District public services, or are elected to represent a neighborhood. https://youtu.be/YZ9hQCoJQAw Who are the key lawmakers, and how...

how does the lawmaking process work? When someone comes up with an idea for a bill, there are a series of steps one would need to take to move from an idea to a fully enacted law. Here, we answer the questions any resident...

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food in the dc jails Unhealthy food makes every sentence a life sentence. 3 Minute Read Many investigations and public testimony have shown the food in the DC jails to be inedible, moldy, vermin-infested, stored at unsafe temperatures, and served in insufficient quantities.  Seventy percent of people surveyed...