October 23, 2023
Dear Washingtonians,
Today, I announced new legislation that will address recent crime trends and give law enforcement more tools to hold criminals accountable and keep neighborhoods safe. The Addressing Crime Trends Now Act (ACT Now) will create an environment that better supports communities and victims and better supports the Metropolitan Police Department's (MPD) ability to hire and retain highly qualified officers. And some of the changes are just plain common sense.
We know, for example, that the criminal behavior directed at our business community, particularly our retailers, is unacceptable. And people in our city are sick and tired of it. People want great businesses in their neighborhoods. We go to stores and restaurants, and we don’t want to worry about those businesses getting robbed repeatedly and brazenly. So, with this legislation, we are creating criminal penalties and establishing a new crime for directing organized retail theft in our city. Under the new law, it will be illegal for any person to organize a theft-for-profit scheme by recruiting or directing individuals to commit organized retail theft.
We are also reinstating the law that makes it unlawful to wear a mask for the purposes of committing criminal acts, or threatening people, or causing fear. Obviously, and for good reason, our community’s experience with wearing masks has changed significantly since 2020. But we need to address the trend of people using masks to commit crimes like robberies and carjackings. Of course, these changes won’t apply to those who are wearing masks for their health.
Over the last several months, as we’ve visited neighborhoods across the city, there has been overwhelming support for addressing loitering around open-air drug markets. The new legislation will allow MPD to limit loitering by reinstating the ability of the MPD Chief to declare drug-free zones for 120 hours to prohibit people from congregating on public space for the purchase, sale, or use of illegal drugs. The establishment of temporary drug free zones will allow MPD and community members to work together to interrupt illegal activity and allow neighborhoods to reclaim public space.
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And, finally, this legislation recognizes and addresses the day-to-day operational challenges our officers experience when working to keep DC safe. MPD continues to be a leader in fair and constitutional policing and they continue to work every day to have and keep the trust of our city. This legislation won’t change that. It will, however, support the department in dealing with some of the consequences of the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Amendment Act. Some of the changes that were made, even if well-intentioned, just don’t match the daily realities of safe and effective policing.
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This legislation reflects what our community is telling us: you want appropriate accountability for those who choose to commit crimes and inflict fear in our neighborhoods. As you’ve heard me say repeatedly this year, we must have a policy environment that supports appropriate accountability. But we need to act now, and we need to send a strong message that violence is not acceptable in DC. We need to send a strong message that you cannot commit a brazen crime in DC and get away with it.
I want to thank our officers – and all our first responders and public safety teams – who are working every day to keep our city safe. We should be proud that Washington, DC is a city that is focused on creating opportunities for our residents and a city where people get second chances; but those chances can’t affect someone else’s safety. We also know that as we focus on prevention and enforcement, we can still focus on opportunity. Our number one priority will always be keeping people safe.
In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to share information about ACT Now. You can find more information on the legislation HERE.
Sincerely,
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