The ACLU-DC speaks before the D.C. Council about decentering police from public safety approaches, which requires significant investments in non-police services and resources and ending reliance on police where they are not effective and create more harm.
While we support the District in moving towards more energy efficiency, the ACLU-DC strongly opposes the creation of infrastructures for pervasive mass surveillance and have concerns about the use of a public-private partnership to execute such a project.
ACLU-DC testifies before the D.C. Council Committee key takeaways and recommendations from our analysis of MPD’s 2020 NEAR Act “stop and frisk” data, and our report "Protest During Pandemic: D.C. Police Kettling of Racial Justice Demonstrators on Swann Street."
ACLU-DC statement emphasizes the importance of centering public health and economic justice rather than traumatic carceral approaches to public safety, as well as the trauma, violence, and ineffectiveness of policing to address societal problems caused by a lack of adequate resources.
The ACLU-DC testified at a Public Oversight Roundtable on alternatives to policing, stating the importance of decentering police and prioritizing community-driven systems.
In preparation for potential protest activity surrounding election and inauguration, ACLU-DC wrote a letter to Chief of Police Peter Newsham calling attention to protestors' rights when demonstrating.