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Real public safety means more community, not cages · The Real News Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to the position of rallying and biding your host,
0:01
Speaker 1: Man Simos. Today we have the true reformer building talking
0:04
Speaker 1: to representations from DC Justice Lab. I'm talking to Clinique
0:09
Speaker 1: Chapman CEO, Bethnity Young, the policy director. We're here to
0:14
Speaker 1: discuss a roadmap for a safer and more equable District
0:18
Speaker 1: of Columbia through the lens of the public safety policy
0:21
Speaker 1: agenda the DC Justice Lab has developed. Welcome to rating
0:25
Speaker 1: the bonds.
0:27
Speaker 2: Thank you, We're happy to be here.
0:29
Speaker 1: Okay, let's start with transparency and technology. Clinique and Bethany,
0:35
Speaker 1: your agenda highlights surveillance oversight and the need for virtue
0:39
Speaker 1: testimony from the jail. While these two so critical for
0:43
Speaker 1: ensuring that justice system remains accountable to public safety and
0:49
Speaker 1: accessible dos inside. And when we talk about the virtue
0:52
Speaker 1: for the benefit of our audience, DC cold defendics can vote,
0:57
Speaker 1: and because DC col definics can vote, they also she
1:00
Speaker 1: had the right. I think this is the attitude that
1:03
Speaker 1: we have in the city. They shared the right to
1:05
Speaker 1: be able to testifify before city Hall around issues relative
1:10
Speaker 1: to whatever's going on in the city and whatever's going
1:13
Speaker 1: on to jail. So it's that landscape that we're talking about,
1:17
Speaker 1: Virtue testimony.
1:18
Speaker 2: Thank you for having us, I think to start, I
1:21
Speaker 2: love to just kind of introduce, right the twenty twenty
1:24
Speaker 2: six Stacy Public Safety Policy Agenda, which was co created
1:28
Speaker 2: by DC, just like we convene nearly thirty organizations to
1:33
Speaker 2: come and talk to us about, you know, what are
1:36
Speaker 2: the solutions that we want to see as we know
1:38
Speaker 2: that the landscape is shifting, a new mayor's coming, new
1:42
Speaker 2: city council members, new congressional representative, and so we knew
1:45
Speaker 2: that it was a very important time to really pull
1:48
Speaker 2: together all of those organizations who are working on the
1:51
Speaker 2: ground in policy, different spaces to really put together what
1:55
Speaker 2: those solutions should look like and that roadmap for the
1:57
Speaker 2: next you know, administration, whoever that is in this city.
2:00
Speaker 2: And so that's you know, the that was the kind
2:03
Speaker 2: of the empathis to creating this document. And there are
2:07
Speaker 2: many priority areas for each organization, you know, whether it
2:09
Speaker 2: be the youth orgs or right our organization kind of
2:13
Speaker 2: spanning different different policing, punishment, prosecution, prevention, and so for
2:19
Speaker 2: us in your question related to the virtual testimony, that's
2:22
Speaker 2: something that DC Justice Lab has been working on through
2:25
Speaker 2: the Ease Act. It is something that we recognize is
2:29
Speaker 2: a civic requirement, a civic necessity. Just because someone is
2:35
Speaker 2: incarcerated at the DC jail doesn't remove their It shouldn't
2:39
Speaker 2: remove We've already removed their liberty right. So like the
2:42
Speaker 2: punishment is that they are being held at the jail
2:45
Speaker 2: while they await you know, sending, seeing or kind of
2:48
Speaker 2: their case. But that doesn't remove their responsibility as community members.
2:53
Speaker 2: There are still community members. They should still have the
2:55
Speaker 2: same rights as it relates to as you mentioned, voting,
2:58
Speaker 2: as it relates to the being able to express and
3:02
Speaker 2: talk to their council members, that those are still their representatives.
3:05
Speaker 2: And so we recognize that and have been in coalition
3:08
Speaker 2: with individuals and organizations to really push forward this act,
3:12
Speaker 2: and nearly ten council members you know, agree that it
3:17
Speaker 2: was something that should at least come to the table
3:19
Speaker 2: for conversation, and so we have a hearing. We've held
3:22
Speaker 2: a hearing, and so now we're really just waiting for
3:24
Speaker 2: them to pass that to move it forward. But we
3:27
Speaker 2: love Bethany to also you know, chime in on on
3:29
Speaker 2: that as well.
3:30
Speaker 3: The specific recommendations you're named around surveillance oversight and expanding
3:35
Speaker 3: advocacy opportunities to people in the DC jail kind of
3:38
Speaker 3: are a part of one of the agenda's primary focus areas,
3:43
Speaker 3: which is oversight and kind of resident led policy making,
3:48
Speaker 3: And so surveillance oversight is one piece of work we're
3:52
Speaker 3: doing around First of all, we don't even really know
3:55
Speaker 3: the expanse of the surveillance program in DC. We know
3:59
Speaker 3: it is expansive, been growing. The Mayor's budget included additional
4:02
Speaker 3: money to further expand the use of surveillance in DC.
4:06
Speaker 3: What we also know is that that information gets shared
4:08
Speaker 3: with federal agencies, it gets shared with some private corporations.
4:13
Speaker 3: There is informal and formal surveillance. There are all there's
4:15
Speaker 3: a gang database is one form of surveillance where we've
4:19
Speaker 3: heard from journalistic reports that infants have been listed on
4:23
Speaker 3: a gang database because of where they live or who
4:26
Speaker 3: their name is associated within their household. We know that
4:28
Speaker 3: there are drones operating in DC, CCTV cameras shot Spotter.
4:35
Speaker 3: One of those. Shot spot is one of the things
4:37
Speaker 3: that does not have a strong evidence space. In fact,
4:39
Speaker 3: in the last six and nine months, many cities have
4:42
Speaker 3: kind of eliminated that program because of the issues that
4:46
Speaker 3: have been uncovered around its reliability and accuracy. So kind
4:50
Speaker 3: of our push around surveillance is we want these residents
4:54
Speaker 3: deserve to know what's being used, what off their information
4:57
Speaker 3: is being collected without their knowledge, and who has access
5:00
Speaker 3: to it and what are the implications of that. Another
5:03
Speaker 3: piece of that is an oversight piece. DC residents should
5:06
Speaker 3: be at the table, an integral part of the conversation
5:10
Speaker 3: to understand first of all, the extent of the use
5:15
Speaker 3: of the technology and to weigh in on whether it
5:17
Speaker 3: is a viable use of taxpayer dollars and whether it
5:21
Speaker 3: is actually contributing to improving public safety. And so advocating
5:25
Speaker 3: from the DC jail is related to that in that
5:27
Speaker 3: it's about people who are impacted by policies being able
5:31
Speaker 3: to understand what the policy policies are, having the tools
5:35
Speaker 3: and access to do that, but also to offer their insight.
5:40
Speaker 3: You know, the Council often is dealing with issues related
5:44
Speaker 3: to what happens in the jail, So without having people
5:47
Speaker 3: in the room who are experiencing it's I question how
5:53
Speaker 3: sound decision making can happen without the people who are
5:55
Speaker 3: most directly impacted being a part of the process. I mean,
5:59
Speaker 3: in recent example, the use of solitary confinement in the
6:03
Speaker 3: DC jail has been not contested by anybody outside of government,
6:10
Speaker 3: but there have been years and years of denials from
6:12
Speaker 3: the doc that it does not happen, it does not
6:15
Speaker 3: take place, they don't use it. That conflicts with evidence
6:19
Speaker 3: from DC government about the use of solitary confinement in
6:23
Speaker 3: the DC jail. But they continue as recently as a
6:26
Speaker 3: few weeks ago to say we don't do that. Easy
6:30
Speaker 3: way to get a good answer about that question, ask
6:33
Speaker 3: somebody who's in there, who's experienced it. We need a
6:36
Speaker 3: more meaningful tool to allow people to do that. So
6:38
Speaker 3: all of it is about giving people who are impacted
6:41
Speaker 3: by the policies the tools, the access, and requiring the
6:45
Speaker 3: decision makers who are charged with taking care of all
6:48
Speaker 3: of us to listen, to hear them out, and to
6:51
Speaker 3: engage with them about how their government is serving them.
6:55
Speaker 1: And speaking of solitary confinement. 'all organization has been intentional.
6:59
Speaker 1: When can't waging this campaign? So where are y'all at?
7:03
Speaker 1: We just can I know that we get in some
7:06
Speaker 1: leadway in it, But where are y'all at in terms
7:08
Speaker 1: of in the solitary confinement in DC jail more specifically,
7:14
Speaker 1: and what is the transition from that in y'all policy,
7:21
Speaker 1: you have a control environment where the jail is saying,
7:25
Speaker 1: we have a need for certain people to be confined
7:28
Speaker 1: in certain areas. What's your policy, okay, eradication with them?
7:33
Speaker 2: What? Well, I'd love to even expand on what you're
7:36
Speaker 2: saying the jail said. The jail is saying it doesn't exist, right,
7:39
Speaker 2: so we have to start there. They're saying it doesn't exist,
7:43
Speaker 2: although they are just being very simplistic with it in
7:47
Speaker 2: terms of saying solitary confinement doesn't exist. They're using that
7:50
Speaker 2: title versus there is restrictive housing, there's segregated housing, there's
7:54
Speaker 2: you know, you can go and protect the custody voluntary
7:58
Speaker 2: you have a safe cells, right, safe seals are functioning
8:01
Speaker 2: as solitary confinement based on the definition, and so that
8:04
Speaker 2: is the that is the issue right there with the
8:06
Speaker 2: jail just even common language, we're not even having shared
8:09
Speaker 2: language with the jail in terms of how they're defining
8:12
Speaker 2: solitary confinement. But yes, you are right, DC just lab
8:15
Speaker 2: has been uh the honestly one of the most vocal
8:19
Speaker 2: voices As it relates to you know, it's kind of
8:21
Speaker 2: the building the coalition around Unlocked the Box in DC
8:24
Speaker 2: for years now. As it relates to the Race Act,
8:27
Speaker 2: we have advocated, we've pushed for it with council. We've
8:32
Speaker 2: you know, speaked, spoke to the jail before over the years.
8:35
Speaker 2: We spoke to council before over the years. And the
8:40
Speaker 2: you know, the kind of the commonality between both is
8:42
Speaker 2: that they're saying, well, the jail is singing, doesn't exist,
8:44
Speaker 2: and so we really do need counsel, which is really
8:46
Speaker 2: take a more active approach and saying, you know, well
8:49
Speaker 2: they're saying, doesn't I guess exist. Let's go in there
8:52
Speaker 2: and see it for ourselves. And so that is really,
8:53
Speaker 2: in my opinion, what the next step should be as
8:56
Speaker 2: it relates to what councils should do, they should be
8:58
Speaker 2: doing two things. They should go to see it for themselves,
9:00
Speaker 2: and they should be holding a hearing so that those
9:02
Speaker 2: who are experiencing it, those who have experienced it, the
9:05
Speaker 2: family members who know when they're you know, their loved
9:08
Speaker 2: ones are in solitary confinement, they can't talk on the phone,
9:11
Speaker 2: they can't visit, they know that it's still happening, let
9:14
Speaker 2: those folks come in and actually be able to testify
9:16
Speaker 2: for themselves. And so we haven't even had an opportunity
9:19
Speaker 2: to have a hearing where people can share their experiences,
9:23
Speaker 2: their current experiences with solitary confinement in DC. And so
9:26
Speaker 2: that really is the next step of getting and moving
9:29
Speaker 2: toward a hearing for the free race. And so once
9:33
Speaker 2: solitary confinement is erase, that is the goal, right, The
9:36
Speaker 2: ultimate goal is that solitary confinement in DC jail will
9:39
Speaker 2: no longer exist exist. We will move toward you know
9:44
Speaker 2: measures I'm saying, we moved forward. The goal will be
9:46
Speaker 2: for the jail, for the jail, for the government to
9:49
Speaker 2: see ways to implement. It's happening across the country. There
9:53
Speaker 2: are many states who are doing this currently and it's
9:56
Speaker 2: working for them in terms of, you know, how you
9:58
Speaker 2: treat people when you know acts do happen, where harm
10:03
Speaker 2: has happened to someone, They're using restorative justice in jails.
10:07
Speaker 2: They are using more preventative measures so that those issues
10:11
Speaker 2: that you know arose in the first place won't even
10:13
Speaker 2: be necessary. And so I think there are various ways
10:16
Speaker 2: that the jail can put things in place to eliminate
10:21
Speaker 2: the use of solitary confinement and move toward a more
10:24
Speaker 2: humane way of holding people accountable when they think there
10:26
Speaker 2: are issues that need to be addressed, and currently that
10:29
Speaker 2: is not happening.
10:30
Speaker 1: And I think I think you know from like I said,
10:32
Speaker 1: four disclosure, I did four and a half years and
10:36
Speaker 1: what they call sumacs, And I think the problem that
10:40
Speaker 1: we see when you say solitary confinement, you have a
10:43
Speaker 1: misnomal debt. A person is in a cell getting bread
10:49
Speaker 1: and water, never nobody come and seeing them open the
10:54
Speaker 1: door a year later let them out. But the reality
10:57
Speaker 1: is that you're being isolated for in order the amount
11:01
Speaker 1: of times you're not allowed to like everything is regulated.
11:05
Speaker 1: You've got an hour out. Within an hour, you gotta
11:09
Speaker 1: take a shower. That's your wreck. The next day you
11:12
Speaker 1: might get an hour or you might not. So I
11:15
Speaker 1: think that to y'all credit, it's important that what y'all
11:18
Speaker 1: doing in terms of educating people about understanding what isolation is.
11:24
Speaker 1: If you want to call this, if you want to
11:27
Speaker 1: play wordplay, or we don't have solitary confound what you
11:30
Speaker 1: got what they call twenty four or one? You know,
11:34
Speaker 1: I'm locked in twenty four hours a day, Right, But
11:37
Speaker 1: let's talk about y'all solutions. Y'all got the will to
11:41
Speaker 1: deal with solutions y'all have on your agenda of record
11:45
Speaker 1: relief and earn compliance credits. How do these you know,
11:49
Speaker 1: talk about what this is and how is this playing
11:52
Speaker 1: into the well, how do y'all look at this in
11:55
Speaker 1: terms of re entry Wilhelm and Rolocke, which would be
11:57
Speaker 1: one city council person, she passed, they pass a good
12:00
Speaker 1: time Credit Act and when they closed lord that didn't
12:05
Speaker 1: follow them and so they had to hassle and haggle
12:08
Speaker 1: with VOP to get that. Then they getting the benefit
12:13
Speaker 1: of that, so too in y'all, in yall politic agenda
12:17
Speaker 1: and then enforcement, re entry.
12:20
Speaker 3: Is one of the smartest investments a city can make
12:23
Speaker 3: into public safety. Right, prevent crime by getting people a
12:27
Speaker 3: path when they come home to not wind up back
12:30
Speaker 3: in jail at prison. So it kind of as a framing,
12:33
Speaker 3: re entry is a significant and meaningful and impactful investment
12:38
Speaker 3: in improving public safety. The two policies you mentioned earned
12:43
Speaker 3: compliance and record relief. In compliance credits and record relief
12:47
Speaker 3: are policies that have implemented would improve people's chances that
12:52
Speaker 3: successful re entry, so earn compliance credits. You mentioned good
12:56
Speaker 3: time credits. It's like a good time credit on supervision.
12:59
Speaker 3: So for every third days of compliance with supervision requirements,
13:03
Speaker 3: someone could earn thirty days off their supervision sentence. Because
13:08
Speaker 3: what the evidence shows is that incentives work better than penalties,
13:12
Speaker 3: and if people have something to work towards, they're going
13:14
Speaker 3: to be more likely to follow the rules that are
13:18
Speaker 3: part of someone's kind of supervision set up. We also
13:23
Speaker 3: know kind of why this is important is that parole, probation,
13:28
Speaker 3: community supervision are also drivers of mass incarceration. And so
13:32
Speaker 3: if you want to think about decarceration, people think about
13:36
Speaker 3: probation or parole as forms of decarceration, but it ends
13:39
Speaker 3: up being an expansion of incarceration because people can end
13:45
Speaker 3: up back in prison for violations that aren't crimes on
13:48
Speaker 3: their own, but that are violations of their supervisions. Well,
13:51
Speaker 3: things like being late for an appointment, missing a phone call,
13:56
Speaker 3: things like that, things that someone may not really have
13:59
Speaker 3: any real contriver, especially when you think about all the
14:01
Speaker 3: challenges someone is up against when they're coming home, so
14:05
Speaker 3: to kind of ding them and potentially reincarcerate them for
14:10
Speaker 3: traffic or missing a bus or not having a ride,
14:14
Speaker 3: or being hanging out with people that they've known since childhood,
14:18
Speaker 3: who you know they may be prohibited from hanging out
14:21
Speaker 3: with because of the terms of their supervision. So that's
14:23
Speaker 3: earn compliance. Record relief would allow people who for certain
14:28
Speaker 3: crimes after certain waiting periods, depending on the crime, to
14:31
Speaker 3: have their record either sealed or expunged. And so we
14:35
Speaker 3: know that employment is an important part of somebody returning
14:38
Speaker 3: home and being successful. We also know that a criminal
14:41
Speaker 3: record can have a devastating impact on someone's employment opportunities.
14:46
Speaker 3: So by removing that as a barrier, kind of with
14:49
Speaker 3: kind of pursuing to certain parameters that are in the
14:52
Speaker 3: Second Chance Amendment Act, which is a law of DC
14:55
Speaker 3: paths to simplify and expand that process. Those are all
15:00
Speaker 3: investments in public safety. Is making sure that people can
15:03
Speaker 3: live free, can not be on papers the whole life,
15:06
Speaker 3: can kind of be free members of society, and that
15:10
Speaker 3: they have access it and are not blocked from supporting
15:15
Speaker 3: themselves and their families.
15:16
Speaker 1: I know from being in that space and being on
15:19
Speaker 1: promoting probation, if you give a person that the incentive
15:24
Speaker 1: saying like well, in five years, if you stay this course.
15:28
Speaker 1: You your provoting probation is up in twenty years. But
15:30
Speaker 1: you stay this course, you be off paper. That's the
15:33
Speaker 1: terminis that we use. You be off paper in five
15:35
Speaker 1: years because compliance with this and you being it's being recognized.
15:40
Speaker 1: So I think that's and it's not don't cost the city.
15:44
Speaker 1: Now that's the other part of it. But let's talk
15:47
Speaker 1: about let's talk about they'll public safe, your public safety
15:51
Speaker 1: policy agenda and the core principles in it, and briefly
15:56
Speaker 1: go over what those principles are and how y'all envision
16:02
Speaker 1: just taking shape, because right now y'all often y'all saying
16:07
Speaker 1: that to y'all credit, we have a solution public safety,
16:14
Speaker 1: all right, So how do we see this public safety
16:17
Speaker 1: agenda and the core principles playing out so a person
16:21
Speaker 1: delayed person can say, oh, I can see it. That's
16:25
Speaker 1: why I support that. I can see these principles because
16:28
Speaker 1: I see the conditions in my neighborhood and I see
16:30
Speaker 1: that these principles are directly related to addressing the conditions.
16:34
Speaker 2: In my neighborhood. It's I think Bethany used the word doable.
16:38
Speaker 2: Was that you they use the word it's doable, right,
16:40
Speaker 2: it's a doable set of recommendations that any elected official
16:47
Speaker 2: and so we're you know, we've we've moved this toward
16:50
Speaker 2: the new administration coming in, but any even the current
16:53
Speaker 2: administration right could pick up this document and use it
16:56
Speaker 2: as a tool to implement solutions that they know work.
17:01
Speaker 2: It's rooted in evidence is rooted in things that we
17:04
Speaker 2: know work, whether it be here or in other places.
17:06
Speaker 2: It's rooted in things that we've seen work before. And
17:09
Speaker 2: the investment be you know, taken from and so it's
17:11
Speaker 2: nothing just kind of remarkable. I think what's remarkable is
17:14
Speaker 2: that all of the organizations that came together saw now
17:19
Speaker 2: was the time to really put this forward. But it's
17:21
Speaker 2: it's something that the average resident, the average you know,
17:24
Speaker 2: even the youth can pick up and say, hey, hey,
17:27
Speaker 2: city council, and hey a and c member, Hey, you know,
17:30
Speaker 2: anyone that matters to them that they're trying to move,
17:33
Speaker 2: you know, and advocate for with something. They can pick
17:36
Speaker 2: this document up and say this is this right here,
17:39
Speaker 2: this is the pathway forward.
17:41
Speaker 1: Right.
17:41
Speaker 2: It gives you the steps, it gives you the resource inside.
17:44
Speaker 2: And so it's really just rooted in evidence is rooted
17:46
Speaker 2: in the community. Community voices were a part of building
17:50
Speaker 2: this document and the support is there for it, and
17:54
Speaker 2: so it is not something that a resident shouldn't be
17:57
Speaker 2: able to get behind. If a resident in DC, whoever
18:00
Speaker 2: that may be, is ready for change, for a sustainable change,
18:06
Speaker 2: it is something that the city can definitely get behind
18:09
Speaker 2: in terms of investing in like you we talked about before,
18:12
Speaker 2: like all you have to do is move the money
18:14
Speaker 2: around and make sure that it reflects humanity, community and
18:18
Speaker 2: not punishment and policing. And we put so much money
18:21
Speaker 2: in policing, where has that gotten? We put so much
18:28
Speaker 2: money into jail and then sending people to prison, where
18:30
Speaker 2: has that gotten? This has just gotten us more people incarcerated,
18:33
Speaker 2: more people on paper. Right, And so why don't we
18:35
Speaker 2: actually try something that we know where it's try something
18:38
Speaker 2: that allows people to heal from harms?
18:41
Speaker 1: Right?
18:41
Speaker 2: We have you know, alternatives, We have a big section
18:44
Speaker 2: in there talking about prevention and youth before they ever
18:47
Speaker 2: even touch the system. How about focusing on those youth
18:50
Speaker 2: and focusing on investing in youth that just wants somewhere
18:53
Speaker 2: to go every night, right, Like, instead of placing them
18:56
Speaker 2: inside of a you know, a y C or d
18:59
Speaker 2: Y r s. Why would we do that right when
19:01
Speaker 2: we know that we can actually invest in the youth
19:03
Speaker 2: that are currently trying to do something positive.
19:06
Speaker 3: So we talk about kind of community prevention investments in communities,
19:11
Speaker 3: behavioral health and making sure that survivors in victim services
19:16
Speaker 3: organizations have what they need to really help people get
19:19
Speaker 3: from kind of harm, being impacted by harm to being
19:21
Speaker 3: a whole. We talked about it with reentry. I think
19:24
Speaker 3: it's the same with victim services. People that find themselves
19:27
Speaker 3: victims of crime. You know, it can be a bad,
19:31
Speaker 3: hard thing away from being a perpetrator of harm or
19:35
Speaker 3: being caught up with police or the criminal legal system
19:37
Speaker 3: in some form or fashion if they are not met
19:40
Speaker 3: with the services they need to kind of get to
19:43
Speaker 3: a better position after harm has occurred. So we have
19:46
Speaker 3: victim services recommendations, behavioral health things like you know, we
19:51
Speaker 3: know DC has made the investment an alternative crisis response
19:55
Speaker 3: conducted by behavioral health professionals rather than police, but it's
19:58
Speaker 3: not working, They're not being used, it's not been effective,
20:02
Speaker 3: and so recommendations around a way to kind of get
20:05
Speaker 3: that in order so that it's working in the way
20:07
Speaker 3: that other cities have seen progress with alternative first response,
20:11
Speaker 3: Clinique mentioned the Youth Investment, so kind of really upstream,
20:15
Speaker 3: making sure that kids are a part of the legislative process,
20:19
Speaker 3: but they have a voice before the council, a voice
20:22
Speaker 3: that kind of carries some weight to it. I'm giving
20:25
Speaker 3: them opportunities to be leaders kind of in the city,
20:27
Speaker 3: but amongst their other peers. It also addresses kind of
20:30
Speaker 3: what happens to kids once they are caught up in
20:32
Speaker 3: the system. How do we ensure that they are still
20:35
Speaker 3: treated as children even if they are in the system,
20:39
Speaker 3: that the facilities where they are held have the resources
20:43
Speaker 3: and also oversight. We know that there are some major
20:46
Speaker 3: challenges happening in DYRS. I mean, there has been legislation
20:50
Speaker 3: passed that would create independent external oversight that has not
20:54
Speaker 3: been funded continuously, so kind of making sure that kids
20:59
Speaker 3: don't get to this, that we are doing things to
21:01
Speaker 3: prevent that from happening, but also if they wind up there,
21:04
Speaker 3: that we're protecting them and that the adults that are
21:07
Speaker 3: charged with their care are being held accountable for their care.
21:10
Speaker 3: We also talk about ways to limit our reliance, reduce
21:14
Speaker 3: our reliance on policing, kind of ways to kind of
21:19
Speaker 3: where police are not the best responders. What can we
21:22
Speaker 3: replace them with to kind of minimize unnecessary contacts people
21:26
Speaker 3: are having with police, but also where contact does happen,
21:30
Speaker 3: where it does arise, making sure that we have accountability
21:34
Speaker 3: and overst mechanisms in place to deal with that. The
21:38
Speaker 3: district passed the Comprehensive Policing and Justice re Form Amendment
21:41
Speaker 3: Act in twenty twenty two. Several of the measures, and
21:45
Speaker 3: they are related to accountability and oversight, remain unfunded. Things
21:49
Speaker 3: like having a public database related to officers accused of misconduct,
21:55
Speaker 3: of giving the Office of Police complaints what they need
21:57
Speaker 3: to kind of really thoroughly and meaningfully address bad actors
22:03
Speaker 3: in a department. And then the last section we talk
22:05
Speaker 3: about what's happening in the jails, what's needed around re entry,
22:10
Speaker 3: How do we make sure that people who are incarcerated
22:13
Speaker 3: who are from DC what they need all their way
22:16
Speaker 3: and when they come back, and how to get them
22:18
Speaker 3: closer to home.
22:19
Speaker 2: The policy agenda is something that starts off and it's
22:24
Speaker 2: always rooted in community first, right, like investing in the
22:28
Speaker 2: prevention and the community. And then if people get wrapped
22:33
Speaker 2: up in this terrible system that we have, making sure
22:36
Speaker 2: that the system doesn't do more harm, making sure the
22:38
Speaker 2: system still sees people as people in as people centered.
22:41
Speaker 2: So I think for me it's kind of it's both.
22:44
Speaker 2: It's both and like yes and yes, we want people
22:46
Speaker 2: to be home, not be you know, contacted by the police,
22:51
Speaker 2: not interact with the jail, not go to court. But
22:53
Speaker 2: if they do, then what then how do we treat
22:55
Speaker 2: them while the there and what should that system look like?
22:58
Speaker 1: Thank y'all for you know, in life this on this
23:00
Speaker 1: y'all taking a bold step, y'all saying y'all got a
23:04
Speaker 1: DC public safety agenda that y'all offering as an alternative
23:09
Speaker 1: to what the city is offering. That y'all inserting y'allselves
23:13
Speaker 1: in this, and y'all have a comprehensive program because y'all
23:16
Speaker 1: definitely rather the bars today, and we want to make
23:19
Speaker 1: sure that everybody understands that, you know, we talk about
23:22
Speaker 1: public safety. It's all our responsibilities and we asked that
23:25
Speaker 1: you continue to look at these things vet them. Ask yourself,
23:28
Speaker 1: what would you do if you was given the responsibility
23:30
Speaker 1: to put a public safety agenda together?
23:32
Speaker 2: What would you do