FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Victoria Casarrubias, Communications Director, vcasarrubias@dccouncil.gov
COUNCILMEMBER PINTO ANNOUNCES PASSAGE OF SECURE DC TO URGENTLY ADDRESS CRIME IN THE DISTRICT
Today, the DC Council passed Councilmember Brooke Pinto’s Secure DC Omnibus, a historic public safety legislative package that includes over one hundred interventions that collectively make District residents, visitors, and businesses safer and more secure by driving down the unacceptable level of crime and violence undermining safety in the District.
Councilmember Pinto, the Chairwoman of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, also moved and the Council passed Secure DC on an emergency basis to immediately enact these interventions and urgently address the violence that is overwhelming our communities.
“The Council’s passage today of my Secure DC omnibus legislation sends the clear message that DC is united in its efforts to make meaningful and sustainable improvements to public safety for residents across the District,” said Councilmember Pinto. “The status quo is unacceptable. Our residents deserve to be safe in our communities, and Secure DC will help curb the trends we are seeing in the District by preventing crime, ensuring accountability when crime does occur, and improving government coordination and response.”
Councilmember Pinto conducted a robust public engagement process and heard from thousands of residents, stakeholders, government partners, as well as her Council colleagues through over a dozen public hearings, public safety walks in all eight wards, and meetings with residents and partners to inform and help shape the legislation. “I am proud of the collaborative process that all of us across District government–from the Mayor, to all of my Council colleagues, the Attorney General, United States Attorney, DC Courts, agencies, experts–and residents and businesses have engaged in to get us to this monumental moment to make DC safer and more secure for everyone.” said Councilmember Pinto.
The Secure DC Omnibus includes provisions from Councilmember Pinto’s Secure DC Plan of over a dozen separate bills, along with many of the proposals from Mayor Bowser’s Safer Stronger and ACT Now bills and from other colleagues. The Secure DC Omnibus includes the following initiatives, among others:
Prevention and Ending Cycles of Violence
- Safe Commercial Corridors: Establish a District-wide grant program to provide funds for commercial corridors to put toward safety-enhancing interventions;
- Safe Transit Corridors: Establish a pilot program to install “blue light” technology and cameras in transit stations to deter crime;
- Drug Free Zones: Reinstate MPD’s ability to declare drug-free zones where hotspots of crime and drug activity occur and allow communities to reclaim public space;
- Prearrest Diversion Taskforce: Establish a task force to develop recommendations to increase diversion, treatment, and accountability for individuals who commit low-level offenses when appropriate;
- Hospitality Training: Establish a hospitality career training program at DC Jail to improve reentry outcomes;
- Nutrition at DC Jail: Set minimum nutrition standards for healthy food served at DC Jail.
Accountability for Crime
- Gun Penalties: Establish new felony offenses for endangerment with a firearm and unlawful discarding of firearms and ammunition;
- Victim Protection: Establish a new felony offense for strangulation; Enhance protections for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and transportation workers and passengers;
- Pretrial Detention: Create a rebuttable presumption in favor of pretrial detention for violent crimes committed by juveniles and adults; require judges to explain decisions to allow for pretrial release in such cases;
- Carjacking: Expand the definition of carjacking to improve prosecution;
- Retail Theft: Establish a new crime for “directing organized retail theft";
- Filling Gaps: Permit GPS records to be admissible in court; enable the collection and analysis of DNA to enhance case closure especially for rape, homicide, and other violent crimes.
Government Coordination and Oversight
- OUC Transparency: Require the Office of Unified Communications to publicly share data and metrics on 911 call center performance; require updates to the 311 system;
- Fare Evasion: Ensure civil violations for fare evasion can be enforced;
- Vehicular Chases: Allow officers to pursue vehicular chases if there is an imminent threat;
- Police Interactions: Clarify officer authority to protect the public, engage in arrests, and have transparency and accountability for these interactions;
- Body-Worn Cameras: Permit officers to review body-worn-camera footage in cases not involving a serious use of force;
- DC Sentencing Commission: Increase Council and Mayoral representation on the Commission with a fairer balance of DC representation:
- Gun Tracking: Require annual firearm tracing reports to help reduce the flow of illegal weapons into the District;
- Data on Programs, Diversion, and Sentencing: Require Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to share data on programs, diversion, and sentencing agreements.
Secure DC Omnibus provisions are included from the following bills:
- Addressing Crime Trends (ACT) Now Amendment Act of 2023 and Safer Stronger Amendment Act of 2023 (Mayor Muriel Bowser)
- Whole Government Response to Crime Act of 2023 (Councilmember Robert White)
- Private Security Camera System Incentive Program Small Business Expansion Amendment Act of 2023 (Councilmember Charles Allen)
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