Washington, DC: Councilmembers Investigate Police Actions on Demonstrations
Submitted by Reverend Chuck0:For Immediate Release
For more information:
April 28, 2003
Penny Pagano 724-8062
Councilmembers Investigate
Police Actions on Demonstrations
Washington, DC – The Council Committee on the Judiciary will launch an investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department’s policy and practice in handling protests, based on allegations of preemptive actions in April 2000, wrongful arrests in September 2002, and recent instances of excessive force against antiwar demonstrators.
Committee Chair Kathy Patterson said the legislative branch has a responsibility to look beyond the testimony already received, particularly in light of what appears to be worsening police behavior. “I had hoped the U.S. District Court would provide guidance on the MPD’s actions in April 2000 when protester offices were closed down before demonstrations took place. But that has not happened,” she said. “I had hoped Mayor Williams would take seriously the internal affairs conclusion that his department wrongfully arrested hundreds of people last September. Ninety days after receiving that report he has not held his subordinates accountable.”
Patterson said the final straw was the recent Channel 4 television tape showing a MPD officer hitting a prone demonstrator as he lay on the ground and allegations from community leaders that MPD motorcycle officers drove into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators in front of Martin Luther King Jr. Library on April 12.
“I am concerned about what appears to be escalating violence here, even as war winds down in Iraq,” Patterson said. “With no action by the mayor as the city’s civilian leader, and court cases moving too slowly to provide policy guidance, it’s left to the legislative branch to take up this issue.”
Patterson will present a resolution authorizing an investigation to the Judiciary Committee later today. Approval of the resolution grants the Committee subpoena power. Patterson has scheduled two days of hearings in June, and intends to subpoena MPD officials and former officials who would have had a role in developing and implementing the department’s policies with regard to protests.
The Judiciary Committee’s recent report on the FY 2004 budget includes this excerpt with additional background information:
The Committee also has concerns about how officers, usually on twelve-hour shifts funded by overtime dollars, are being deployed when there are demonstrations, whether they are anti-war events or the now biennial IMF/World Bank demonstrations. MPD seems to have developed a two pronged crowd control tactic in these circumstances that consists of (1) disrupting traffic and creating a “closed” city by shutting down roads and public parks and (2) providing an overwhelming police presence that, for a lot of the time, outnumbers the actual number of demonstrators, the majority of whom are nonviolent. These tactics, sanctioned by the Williams administration despite MPD’s own internal findings that some past practices have violated MPD’s own written policy, are applied to demonstrations no matter how large or disruptive the crowds. And these tactics not only cost the District money in terms of wasted operational budget resources, namely overtime dollars, but they have also encouraged a growing number of lawsuits against the city alleging MPD’s inhibition of First Amendment freedoms and harassment of demonstrators. Beyond the economic cost, MPD’s tactics unfortunately tarnish the image of the District of Columbia, projecting a nation’s capital where nonviolent protest is no longer welcome.
It seems that MPD’s deployment of CDUs and its tactics with respect to the handling of demonstrations are consistent with the concept of “quantity policing” discussed in the previous section of this report. As Mayor Williams recently told the media in response to recent increases in crime, “we still need additional presence out there, not necessarily for substance but for a feeling of comfort and security.”
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