Transcripts For CSPAN Washington DC Mayor Bowser Briefing On Protests 20240712

Good morning. Im going to begin this press conference. This is a joint press conference the mayor and i have been doing since the pandemic and these more limited press conferences. Before the legislative meeting, i have a press conference where our report on the issues coming up in the legislative meeting the next day. Tomorrow, tuesday, june 9, the council will have its regular meeting for the month of june. On the agenda is, is not very large in terms of number of measures. So im going to speak to this, take any questions, then i will turn it over to the mayor with her usual press conference, and i will be staying for a while in case there are more questions regarding the councils business. The main items for tomorrows legislative meeting, we are doing we are approving the final reading on the temporary coronavirus legislation thats a comprehensive bill that we adopted at our last meeting. This was a consolidation of, im going to say four or five different bills that have been passed periodically since march 17. Measures in the district trying to help with the economy as well as individuals as well as appointment for residents and so forth. Im not going to go through what all those measures were and i actually dont have that list in front of me, but we have the temporary legislation which will put that in place for 225 days. As well as it will make additional clarifications with regard to some measures such as the limitations on the percentage Fee Commission it can be charged by thirdparty services that was eating into restaurants revenues, some clarifications regarding tenant ent plans, the rent freeze which we adopted on march 17. There are some new measures and tomorrows emergency, one is creating new Public Health Emergency Response Grant Program at the request of the executive which would give grants for increasing awareness of covid and promoting prevention. Also, thats an executive sponsored provision. Another new measure will be modifying the beverage regulation administration, modifying the rules to allow for the increased Outdoor Dining and related alcohol purchases on public space. Thats to try to help with restaurants with reopening. Then we will be legislative ly being proving the symbolic designation of black lives matter plaza and approving a contract that will finally get the dollars out for undocumented workers. He may remember over a month ago, approved roughly 15 million, 5 Million Dollars for restaurants, 5 million for forls and 5 million undocumented workers, and where that lies at this point is a contract to disperse the dollars to undocumented workers and that contract will be before us tomorrow for approval. It will be passively approved on the solar track and we want to see it move quickly. That is in the coronavirus emergency bill that we have tomorrow. There is in addition emergency bills, one from Councilmember Robert white, emergency credit alert, which deals with the use of credit reports for individuals for whom there may be a payment plan which is not an adverse action or adverse matter on a credit report, but still we want to limit how that information can be used. So thats mr. Whites emergency councilmember bonds will have an emergency also dealing with some housing aspects, they are fairly technical and we will be combining those with the coronavirus emergency bill. I just spoke with council members, theres an emergency they noticed called the connected transportation Emergency Network amendment act. That bill attempts to take a program already announced by the department of transportation to use public space for alternatives, which could be for business use but also for bicycling or more recreational space, given the needs for social distancing, and so theres that program in place with dot, but this bill would codify some of that as well as require reporting on what so thatddot is doing, we can see that we are actually dedicating on a temporary basis, which is actually maybe three quarters of the year, dedicating some public space for nonvehicular uses. And then the final Emergency Zone by Councilmember Charles allen and is called the comprehensive policing and Justice Reform emergency amendment act. It proposes a number of provisions putting into law, prohibition on the use of neck restraints changing the law with regard to access to Body Worn Camera video recordings, for instance requiring mpd preserving Body Worn Camera equipment to a council request to or investigation. I am not going to go into each of the measures here unless i am asked, but it would instill greater accountability with regard to camera footage. A bill proposes some changes to the office of Police Complaints, including allowing the executive director of the office of Police Complaints to investigate evidence of abuse or misuse of Police Powers that the office identifies, even though it may not have been specifically alleged in the complaint. There is a proposal to expand membership of the use of force review board, which is an existing board. There is a provision to extend the time for corrective or adverse action against an mpd officer in serious cases, which right now by statute is limited to 90 days and this would give a greater period of time for taking adverse action, corrective or adverse action. The legislation would repeal an antimask law that is currently in the code. The bill would require certain procedural safeguards, whether where there is a consent search initiated by the police. I will read a little bit from the notes here, strengthens procedural justice in a case where where is based only on the persons consent to the search. The officer would have to claim that the person is being asked to consent and that they can refuse the search. Then there is a provision dealing with mandatory continuing education and reconstituting the Police Officer standards and Training Board. The post board, Police Officer standards and Training Board was a reform adopted by the council in the late 1990s, possibly early 2000s, and it has become dormant and it is a way of trying to maintain rigorous standards for Police Officers, and there is a provision regarding identification of officers during First Amendment assemblies as local Law Enforcement. Then there are a few measures that are unrelated to the police, i believe repeal of Law Enforcement reporting for crime victims compensation, which is a precondition to a victim that they have to file a report, Police Report before they can apply for victims compensation. There is a measure that would restore individuals serving felony sentences. A department of corrections home confinement requirement that i believe tracks the cares act. I expect there will be quite a bit of discussion on this measure tomorrow, and ive circulated notice of four amendments i will be proposing, one of which is prohibiting Police Discipline from being a negotiable matter in a collective bargaining agreement. Prohibiting the hiring of officers who have a history of misconduct in other jurisdictions, and strengthening Police Access to mpd records when they have an investigation. In a nutshell, those are the issues before the council tomorrow. Im happy to take questions, and then i will turn it over to the mayor. Other than the amendment you are proposing, do you have any problems within their . There . I support the legislation and i expect it will be passed. I expect there will be some debate over some of the more technical aspects of the bill. Some of these issues are little bit more complex, and it is often thought in the public discourse, and i also think that, im aware that there are a lot of suggestions right now circulating in the public realm with regard to reforms that cities need to adopt. What many people dont realize is that this is not the first time that the district has dealt with issues of police conduct, and weve actually made quite a number of reforms over the last several decades. If i remember correctly, and i was not briefed on this, there was concern about 10 years ago with regard to the use of deadly force and there was an investigation, and there were some reforms adopted at that time. I say that only to say that what we need to continually review and evaluate whether procedures that we have and requirements that we have are adequate, there has already been quite a bit that has been adopted in the district. So mr. Allens proposals are necessary and useful, but they may not go as far as what we are hearing being demanded of Police Departments across the country, but that could be because we have already done a lot of that. One of the demands of heard is that there may need to be independent consideration of complaints by citizens of police conduct. We have a very robust Police Complaints board for over 20 years. Were there any Police Reform ideas that could with the 2015 resolution that are being revisited . I dont remember what would have not as im standing here, you have to refresh me on what was adopted in 2015, unless youre talking about the near act. It may have been, i think some of that was separate. I remember that the mayor proposed Body Worn Cameras separate from the near act. [indiscernible] i do believe the critical climate is different today. One of the provisions i mentioned was an amendment that has to do with the office of Police Complaints access to police records. That action was taken from legislation about 10 years ago. The mayor when she was a councilmember and i cointroduced that i think it has a good chance of passing now. Its a fairly simple change, but it makes it clear that opc has unfettered access to relevant records. What do you think about the bigger call being made out there to defund the police . What do you make of it . I think when we talk about the demand for defunding the police, we need to be clear what that means. Does that mean reducing the budget of the Police Department to zero . We have to remember that as much as there has been a tension to a shes of police misconduct, legitimate concerns about police misconduct, actually some heinous issues with regard to police misconduct, that police also serve a very important function with regard to crime. So what i think i think what the council is going to look to do is look at whether additional dollars can be found for increasing alternatives, which as you know is something the council initiated with the near act to look at nontraditional policing strategies toward reducing crime and responding to crime, looking at crime as often a Public Health issue, and looking at recognizing that crime often has, im going to say a cyclical aspect to it, meaning that what we see with a lot of the shootings that occur and someone is shot and there is retaliation and retaliation, cyclical in that sense. The near act went to that approach, and weve expanded that the last couple of years. I think thats what the council is going to look to do with the budget before us, is to put more emphasis on that. I would add that we also have to keep in mind that the fundamental issue, i think, is that, its been in the public debate for the last 10 days, has been not whether there should be a Police Response to crime, but rather police misconduct, and how police can be better at serving the citizens whom theyre supposed to be serving and protecting. To go off that, you said Something Like when it comes to the Defund Police conversation, you are going to be looking at alternatives . Is takingmoney funding from police, is that something youre considering . Im sure the councilmembers will be looking at that as a possibility. Do you support the bill as currently written why dont we have her come up when she comes up. Other any other questions for me with regard to the legislative meeting tomorrow, or the issues on the agenda . Anything you want to see taken out . Any provision in the police will bill that you want to see taken out or removed . As i indicated, ive noted four amendments to add. Im not looking to strike anything from that bill. I would also note that the bill is before us on an emergency basis. That means it would be in effect for 90 days. There will be a temporary accompanying it, which would be in effect longer, then there will be work on permanent legislation. I think there will be some technical aspects that will get refined as we get to the permanent legislation, but substantively, i expect, i would be surprised if there were any substantive provisions that were removed from the bill. Just because of the nature of our structured government, the council is in a position where it can respond fairly quickly to events like this, doing legislation that you would see in other states when the legislature finally gets around to being able to meet and to adopt. We are able to respond more quickly, and i think that the work that mr. Allen has put forward reflects the expertise that is in the committee on judiciary and Public Safety with regard to ideas. There havent been any hearings on sweeping legislation, the committees have been working on these issues for years to jump on it now. Im suggesting the latter, but i also think some of the positions actually track. Requirements that are in the general orders, weve refined them a little bit but some of it is not new, but is being codified and there is value to that because then its a matter of the policy of the government as opposed to the general order that can be changed. Some of the provisions, like for instance, the prohibition on neck holds. Im not sure a delivery process adds anything there. I will still be here for questions if there are more. Thank you all very much. Thank you, mayor. Mayor bowser good morning, everybody. Im muriel bowser, mayor of washington, d. C. I want to thank chairman mendelson for being here and participating in a joint press or which i think is efficient for all of us. I know that he and the council are working hard and continuing to support our Covid Response in their legislative meetings, so we appreciate that. I want to invite chief newsham up to provide a quick Public Safety update as it relates to the districts response to demonstrations in our city, and then we will take your questions. Chief newsham thank you, mayor bowser. Thanks for your continued leadership. Yesterday marked the 10th straight day of protests here in washington, d. C. As anticipated, this weekend, we experienced the largest crowds on saturday that weve seen so far. There were tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators in the city. In fact, hard on the radio when i was driving in that the protests were being described as being largely without violence. I would correct that statement and say exclusively without violence. We did i will go through the arrests over the course of the last several days. Last saturday, we had 19 arrests, sunday we had 90. Monday we had 289. Tuesday, 29, wednesday we had zero. Thursday we had zero. This past friday we had one arrest for a simple assault. On saturday, we had one arrest for an attempted burglary of an establishment in the area of the protests, and then on sunday in the Early Morning we had a defacing property arrest. We anticipate more demonstrations as the days move forward throughout this week. We stand prepared to facilitate the Peaceful Demonstrations that we have seen in recent days. Thank you. Questions . Questions . Questions . Questions . Yes. What are your thoughts on the council [indiscernible] mayor bowser we will be going through it section by section today and discuss any changes or additions that we think we need with the councilmember, by and large, so far, preliminary briefings that ive received is that we can largely be supportive, but we want to make sure we understand all the technicalities. Yes . Reporter are you satisfied with the withdrawal of the maryland and new Jersey National guard forces, and are there any other forces that need to go, and along those lines, have you established a review of Standard Operating Procedure with the National Guard to make sure they inform you before their forces show up on the street . Mayor bowser we understand that all of the outofstate guard will be leaving the city if they are not already gone, would have been gone within 48 hours, i think, from yesterday. I had another meeting with general walker over the weekend, i believe that was, where we discussed a number of issues about the d. C. Guard. Keep in mind that the d. C. Guard is a federal guard. We have called up members of the d. C. Guard to help us both with Covid Response and with demonstration response including both over the last couple of months. So we will continue to have those discussions with general walker. Our congresswoman has a bill before congress that would change the organizational structure of the d. C. National guard, which we support. Any other questions . Reporter mayor bowser, one of the big complaints of been hearing over the weekend in regard to the policies with Body Worn Camera footage, is the program working as intended when there are families of people who have been killed by police who havent been able to see that footage . Mayor bowser well, we certainly think that the Body Worn Camera program works. I think you recognize, i guess its 2015 now, i think we were the first jurisdiction in the country to have a Body Worn Camera program for all patrol officers. There have been we commissioned our own we studied the effectiveness, what impact does the bodyworn Camera Program have on Police Activity and what does it have on citizen activity . How does it correlate to complaints that we see . Weve done all that. We rolled it out in such a way that we could study half of our officers. Half of them had it, half were part of a control group to see if we noticed any differences in behavior, and we shared that information and everything that we learned. There was also a pretty robust conversation about all of the rules related to Body Worn Cameras which were i think unanimously approved by the council. So we think the program is working. Whats the plan for how long you are going to keep the black lives matter mural on 16th street . Mayor bowser we have commissioned the artwork, weve renamed the plaza, and im thankful to the council for codifying that renaming to black lives matter plaza. We think it is going to have a Central Place not just in d. C. History, but american history, and we plan to keep it there. Is there a plan to keep it there for years . Mayor bowser we havent discussed how long its going to stay there, but like all of our other public art, it stays. We will continue to talk about ways to make that a part of the fabric of d. C. , and we also want to involve our downtown district, involve the neighbors to the mural, and we will do that. Reporter what about the parts that were added . Mayor bowser its not part of the mural. It wasnt part of the mural, but we recognize it as expression, and especially right now, acknowledging and affirming the expression thats important to affirming expression is important to the discussion we have to have as a community. Reporter are you planning to take it off or remove it . Mayor bowser i do not consider it as part of the mural. Any other questions . Reporter the center of the press release for black lives matter [indiscernible] , a number of others who are still looking to get answers family members are still looking to get answers about their deaths. What do you say to the families and why have their questions gone unanswered . Mayor bowser i dont know if i agree that questions have gone unanswered, but certainly mpd is available to answer any questions and to show any Body Worn Camera to family members. Yes . Reporter this one would actually be for the chief, is Something Different about now than what happened almost two decades ago when the doj got involved and use of force issues is this a different moment . They went through two decades ago and to what some Police Departments are now doing across the country . Mayor bowser thats a great question, and i will turn to the chief and also build on something we heard from the chairman. The chief just gave me the data upstairs, that it was 2002 when we entered into a number of agreements with the federal government, and weve been on the pace of reforming our department for the last 18 years. We have had the commitment of Wonderful Police leadership, so while i dont know if i would totally agree with your characterization, this department is different than many places in the country, because of that steady pace of reform over the last 18 years. But let me introduce the chief, who has been here for every one of those years, to talk about it. Chief newsham thank you, mayor and chairman, and you are absolutely right. We have been on a path to reform of police here in washington, d. C. Since 2002. For those of you who were here prior to 2002, you remember series of articles about the metropolitan Police Department that came out in 1999, when they painted the metropolitan Police Department as using more excessive force, shooting more rounds, everything soup to nuts, which painted mpd in a negative light. The department of justice was called in by chief ramsey to take a look at the agency, and they determined that the metropolitan Police Department had a pattern and practice of using excessive force. In 2002, we entered into an a memorandum of agreement with the department of justice. It took us several years to come into substantial compliance. An independent monitor was assigned. In fact, we have come into substantial compliance. That independent monitor was asked by the council to come back and look to see if the metropolitan Police Department had slipped back on any of those initiatives. What the independent monitor said at that time that the metropolitan Police Department, particularly its leadership, was committed to fair, unbiased, and constitutional policing. That is something we are very proud of. We have discussed the legislation, the emergency legislation that has been proposed. Other than some technical issues with some of the asks, a lot of the items that are in the emergency legislation are already in the mpd general orders and that will be essentially making those they will legislate those into becoming law here in the city. To the extent that we have concerns, we will talk to councilmember alan, we will talk to the chairman and hopefully, because this need to be done so quickly under emergency procedure, that we will get legislation that everybody in the city is comfortable with. Does that answer your question . Ok, thank you. You know what, can i answer, because you had said that since weve had the Body Worn Cameras that families have not been able to review Body Worn Cameras, that is just not true. In every instance where there has been a fatal use of force in the district of columbia of the families have been able to view the video. Marquis austens family has been able to view the video and i want to say on two separate occasions. To what do you attribute the fall in violence and unrest . Arrests . Was it because you directed police not to and regularly enforce curfews and regularly signaled to the protesters that you were backing the cause . Mayor bowser im not a Public Safety official but i will give you my gut reaction. For a couple of nights, there was a Critical Mass of people here that were bent on destruction. After monday, when we saw federal forces move on american people, there was a Critical Mass of people who were bent on making sure that would never happen again. The people were bent on destruction were outnumbered and probably left. Yes . Reporter i asked this before, but the protests have mingled what are your thoughts on that, as the chairman said some councilmembers want to take money from police and move it to alternatives. What is your reaction to that . Mayor bowser i have my budget that i have submitted to the council a few weeks ago and i can tell you that what we had submitted is what we think we need for Public Safety. Not a penny more and not a penny less. I mean that on both the enforcement side for the metropolitan Police Department and i also know that we have heavily invested in intervention programs, opportunity programs as well. Which has always been our approach. Our approach is policing, intervention, and opportunity. Over the course of my time in office, i think this is our six budget, over the last five years, in fact, if you look at the percent change in our investments, you can see that mpd has increased more slowly than those social service, for cash agencies, for example, and we saw a 12 change in investments in mpd since 2015. Dhs, our department of human services, has seen a 75 percent change. Likewise for schools, both d cps and public charter, have seen 40 change. Dhcf, which handles a lot of our health programs, has seen a 21 change. Dbh, that handles our Mental Health programs, has seen a 15 change. The office of Victim Services in the last five years has seen a 90 increase of funding. I just want to be very clear that the budgets that we have sent to the council over the last five years has recognized all parts of Public Safety. Policing, but certainly intervention and opportunity programs. Chief newsham, you said on ,he radio over the weekend funding to improve police violence. Would you expand on that . I dont know that i exactly said that. What i would say, what you saw the metropolitan Police Department do in the 90s when they determined we had a pattern or practice of excessive force, i think that can be attributed to not having the proper funding for the agency and if you look at agencies that have run into similar problems, inappropriate funding would be one of the reasons they got themselves into that position. Funding is required for training , it is required for recruitment and hiring of the best people who are service minded and look at this job in that regard. Training,alk about cultural competency, implicit bias, deescalation, those things are the things we fund here in washington, d. C. Those are the things we are very proud of as an agency. Our ears are wide open with regard to accountability. One of the reasons all of the streetsfficers on the of the district of columbia where Body Worn Cameras is because of accountability and we have been all years. Ear. Represents the Police Department who were receptive to that type of cabability accountability in their department. Anything that helps us improve our Police Department, our ear tuesday, newlive jersey governor phil murphy. At noon, we go to Houston Texas for the funeral of george floyd. The Senate Finance Committee Examines unemployment insurance. The Senate Returns at 10 00 a. M. To resume consideration of legislation to annually fund. Securitye homeland holds a hearing in response to covid19. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke about protests over George Floyds death in the state response to the coronavirus pandemic. He announced the say their names Police Reform bill, which would establish several initiatives, including increased transparency and appointing the attorney specialas the prosecutor for investigations into Police Killings of unarmed people. Spoke about the phase one reopening of the state. Gov. Cuomo good morning. Let me introduce the people here with us today. To my immediate right, melissa. Thank all of you, smiling faces, for being here today. Today is day 100. It is a day that new york city