Public Safety & Police Reform
True public safety is not built on discriminatory stop-and-frisk tactics or reactive emergency laws that target neighborhoods. It is built on accountability, deep structural reform, and real investment in people. For years, the city's approach to crime has forced working-class Black communities to carry a double burden: dealing with community violence on one side and discriminatory surveillance on the other. Data from the NEAR Act proves what neighborhoods already know: unjust policing tactics have broken down the trust needed to keep people safe. My plan changes the role of law enforcement so it serves as a supportive asset to communities, not a tool for discrimination.
The Plan
- Dismantle the broken police overtime system to reclaim $45 million in wasted tax dollars and reinvest that money directly into community violence interruption, youth employment, and local mental healthcare.
- Replace punitive, state-enforced youth curfews with high-wage trade union apprenticeships and career opportunities that build long-term economic independence.
- Enforce absolute transparency on body-worn camera footage by establishing a strict 72-hour public release timeline after any officer-involved shooting or serious use of force.
- Prohibit officers from reviewing body-cam footage before drafting initial police reports to protect honesty and integrity in investigation records.
- Create a fully independent, all-civilian Police Complaints Board made up of 9 residents with zero police representatives, permanently funded by reclaimed department savings.
- Ban rehiring disciplined or fired officers from other cities so bad actors cannot simply move their careers into DC communities.
- Ban military-style equipment and chemical weapons including tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets from daily patrols, crowd management, and neighborhood policing operations.