Good morning. My name is Rondell Magic Jordan, and I am a resident of Ward 2 and Community Defender for Open City Advocates, which provides legal representation and holistic advocacy to youth who have been committed to DYRS. I am here today to provide testimony regarding provisions in the Addressing Crime Trends Amendment Act of 2023 that I hope will be helpful to the Committee’s work.
I applaud the Committee’s sense of urgency in seeking to enact legislation that makes our city safer. I think we can all agree that something must be done to address the trends in violent crime currently plaguing our city. But we must also agree that that something, has to be something, that actually works.
You know my mom has this saying that she likes to share with me whenever I sit still long enough to listen. She says, “Magic, time tells stories.” Usually, I have absolutely no idea what that means. Today I do.
At least three of this bill’s provisions seek to revive unjust law enforcement practices that were rightfully abandoned by this Council years ago. Time has told us all we need to know about them; they do not make our city safer.
Yesterday’s wickedness is not today’s righteousness.
In fact, these provisions appear to be aimed at making policing easier for MPD officers. The assumptions being that our city is safer when officers are free to restrain people with chokeholds, engage in high-speed car chases, and arrest people for lingering in public spaces that have been temporarily anointed “drug-free”. Time has proven each of these assumptions to be untrue.
Thankfully, I have never been “restrained” in a chokehold by any police officer. But I have not forgotten about Eric Garner, who in 2014 was strangled to death by an NYPD officer who used a chokehold to “restrain” his movement. In May of this year, a former MPD officer was convicted of two counts of violating the civil rights of two young people when he engaged in the very behavior that this bill seeks to legitimize.
Another misguided provision in this bill mistakes our city for some kind of theatrical production. One in which our police officers become stunt drivers, our residents become background extras, and our streets become a movie set. You do not need to be a driving expert to understand that, with few exceptions, engaging in high-speed car chases makes potentially dangerous situations even worse.
Washington DC is not Hollywood.
And as good as it sounds, the provision in this bill that resurrects the MPD’s ability to designate public spaces as drug-free zones, is not going to make our city safer. What it will do though, is permit officers to target young mostly black men and boys who are lingering in public spaces. Which will further erode an officer’s most valuable resource: the trust of the community.
Thus, making us all less safe.
Our city is facing a crisis. People in crisis tend to believe that taking any action, or acting now, is always better than taking no action at all. But to believe this is to mistake desperate acts for good ones.
Only time will tell whether this Committee chooses to enact legislation out of desperation.
Thank you.