The Executive's Public Safety Initiatives and their Impact on Civil Liberties

PUBLIC OVERSIGHT HEARING, COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE JUDICIARY, Phil Mendelson, Chairperson,
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER, ROOM 500,
Agenda item: 1. "The Executive's Public Safety Initiatives and their Impact on Civil Liberties".

First let me emphasize I believe that the great majority of our police are working hard to insure public safety in the District. However, police abuses of civil rights have unfortunately occurred all too frequently in the District, with the Police Chief and Mayor holding the main responsibility for either instigating or tolerating the continuing pattern of these abuses. The City Council likewise should be held accountable for not acting to investigate and take appropriate action to insure full respect of civil rights and liberties of our residents.

Is the unconstitutional implementation of police checkpoints in Trinidad neighborhood a surprise given the history of police violations of civil rights and liberties? I think not. Two recent examples of abuse of police powers:
Former Police Chief Ramsey ordered illegal mass arrests and lockdown of hundreds of anti-corporate globalization protesters and even bystanders who happened to be in Pershing Park, in September 2002. From the ACLU National Capital Area website: “The District of Columbia agreed to pay $425,000 to seven people who were arrested at an anti-World Bank demonstration in Pershing Park in September 2002, and to expunge all records of their arrest and detention. In papers filed in federal court, the District also agreed to make numerous reforms in its policies for handling mass demonstrations, and D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey agreed to personally sign a letter of apology to each of the seven arrestees.”
(http://www.aclu-nca.org/boxSub.asp?id=51). However, Chief Ramsey was not indicted for these illegal arrests and detentions, nor was he fired.

The pattern of numerous police killings of District youth in recent years is much more serious, most recently resulting in the death of a 14 year, DeOnté Rawlings, in September, 2007, by an off duty policeman. District policy in such cases has simply consisted of internal review by the Police Department. Rather, such killings and allegations of police brutality should be investigated by a fully independent Civilian Review Board accountable to the public.

This very troubling pattern of police abuse should be viewed in a full historical context. Just after the 9/11 tragedy, the Patriot Act was very quickly passed by a compliant Congress, with very few of those voting having read the massive bill. The implementation of this Act resulted in a systematic erosion of the Bill of Rights, illegal surveillance, renditions, official sanction of torture and other violations that have been recently documented in Dennis Kucinich’s Resolution of Impeachment of President Bush. These officially sanctioned violations of civil rights and liberties surely have empowered similar abuses by local authorities.

In 2005, Cathy Lanier, now Chief of Police, and others in the force received training by Israeli security experts, the very advisors to the Israeli Apartheid-like Occupation, testified to by Jimmy Carter, that continues to confine the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territiories in violation of international and humanitarian law, fully documented by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. "No experience in my life has had more of an impact on doing my job than going to Israel," said D.C. police Cmdr. Cathy Lanier, who heads the District's special operations division and oversees the bomb squad and the emergency response team.”
(Israeli Experts Teach Police On Terrorism, Training Programs Prompt Policy Shifts By Sari Horwitz, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, June 12, 2005; C01). This observation by Cathy Lanier is very alarming, particularly because the Trinidad police checkpoints remind us of similar Israeli practices enforcing the illegal and immoral Occupation.

Let us be on guard to prevent the Trinidad police checkpoint policy being a step towards an urban apartheid regime in the District, controlling and containing our low income and working class neighborhoods, as the logical outcome of the Structural Adjustment Program imposed by the Control Board and continued by our Mayor with insufficient opposition to date by the City Council.

Several Councilmembers have demanded to hear immediate solutions to curb violent crime in our community. Today we heard several testify to just what these solutions should entail. In particular, Dorothy Brizill shared with us her eloquent testimony regarding the experience of community-police partnerships in Columbia Heights that should be a model for the whole District.

Bottom line: the District must implement a comprehensive social and economic program to terminate the flow of so many of our youth into the prison industrial complex.

Jonathan Smith, the Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, clearly identified the root causes of the violent crime we have witnessed:

“When economic and displacement pressures intensify on poor communities, there is an increase in violent crime, and the police announce the latest law enforcement campaign, usually following some national fad. Those who have lived in the District long enough remember "Operation Clean Sweep," "Operation Caribbean Cruise," "Weed and Seed" and many others.
These initiatives do little to stop violent crime. Violence abates when the underlying social conditions change: The economy improves, housing patterns stabilize or the drug market changes. Mostly, the result is that too many young people end up in jail for too long, further exacerbating the poverty of their families and communities.
The violent crime we are seeing now is the direct and predictable byproduct of a decade of displacement of low-income families to make way for luxury housing. It is the result of a failure of public policy and neglect of social conditions, not inadequate law enforcement. Public safety requires the District to invest in reducing and ultimately ending poverty. Only that will have a meaningful and lasting effect.” ( In D.C., What an 'Operation' Won't Fix, Washington Post Outlook Section, Sunday, June 15, 2008; B08).

With 30% of our youth living in poverty, our Mayor's budget for 2009 is woefully inadequate to achieve this goal, especially as we plunge into a recession. TANF benefits will remain far below poverty level, even further from what is needed for self-sufficiency. Our District tax structure continues to subsidize our most affluent residents, with the top 1% of families, averaging $3 million/year, paying a lower rate than everyone else, even families below the poverty level (ITEP study). A modest hike in DC millionaire's taxes will generate $ hundreds of millions in revenue needed to better meet essential needs, especially for our youth. Maryland has raised their taxes, why can't DC? Obama says he will repeal of Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy, why can't our DC Democrats in charge do the same here?

Finally, our District government should create apprenticeship programs in our public schools, partnering with non-profits, businesses and unions. Then our District's Green Collar Job Initiative will fulfill its promise, to provide 21st century employment for our youth, while improving the quality of life for all residents.

David Schwartzman
Tax & Budget Coordinator
DC Statehood Green Party
dcstatehoodgreen.org
dschwartzman@gmail.com

DCSGP EMAIL NEWS WIRE

RECENT VIDEOS

GREEN WORDS

"We do not have to accept or tolerate such glaring disparities in our society. We do not have to accept or tolerate bloated Pentagon spending, unfair tax cuts, attacks on our civil liberties, and on workers' rights to unionize. We don't have to accept or tolerate our children dropping out of high school, college education unreachable because tuition is so high, or our country steeped in debt."
- Cynthia McKinney, Green Party Presidential Candidate 2008