Tyrone Turner/WAMU/DCist
toggle caption Tyrone Turner/WAMU/DCist
At-Large D.C. Councilmember Robert White introduced legislation Tuesday he says would help the city address bias within the Metropolitan Police Department by looking at how police responded to recent racial justice protests as well as the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
White said the bill is a direct response to the differences in the law enforcement response to rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and Black Lives Matter demonstrations in D.C. last summer, when hundreds of protesters were regularly arrested and charged.
If passed, the legislation would require that D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine s office conduct a study on the number of civilian injuries, arrests, fatalities, and officers deployed for all First Amendment demonstrations that took place between Jan. 2017 and Jan. 2021. Racine s office would also have to collect data on what types of weapons and riot gear we