Tell DC Council “Secure DC” is not safe for DC!

Council member Brooke Pinto introduced a plan to make DC safer that does not keep us safe. Write a letter to DC Council to let them know we don't want any expansion of criminalization in DC and instead want solutions to safety that prevent harm. Some of the most egregious provision in these bill do the following:

• Allows police to stop and frisk any person they suspect is on probation, supervised release, or parole after being convicted of a gun offense.
• Requires additional, administratively burdensome  paperwork for judges to complete when a person is released pretrial.
• Changes the definitions of certain "crimes", resulting in longer sentences and more community members being criminalized
• Expands pretrial detention for adults AND children

History of the Issue:

In May 2023, Mayor Bowser proposed the Safer Stronger Amendment Act of 2023, a bill that would vastly expand pretrial detention for both adults and youth, create new crimes, require longer sentences, and expand the surveillance state. At the committee hearing in June, over 150 people testified, a majority of whom strongly opposed the bill.

In July 2023, Councilmember Pinto introduced the Prioritizing Public Safety Emergency Amendment Act of 2023 and a corresponding temporary bill. This bill removed some of the harmful provisions in Safer, Stronger that community members vehemently opposed in their testimony. Unfortunately, many remained, including expanding pretrial detention. The emergency bill was hurriedly passed in the last legislative meeting before the summer recess to avoid a community response and will expire October 18th.

On September 18th, Councilmember Pinto announced her “Secure DC Plan”, included in this plan is a commitment to the most harmful legislation that we have seen in DC in decades. The ACTIVE Act includes a deeply concerning expansion of stop-and-frisk that could potentially violate the Fourth Amendment of DC residents by giving MPD the power to stop anyone who is released on pre-trial detention or parole. It also expands pretrial detention and criminalization.