Photo by Amber Wilkie
The primary reason the District decriminalized pot was to help alleviate the huge racial disparity in marijuana-related arrests. According to a Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs report, a vast majority of marijuana-related crimes between 2009 and 2011 were attributed to black males, despite reported marijuana use split between D.C.’s black and white residents.
While many believe marijuana decriminalization will help solve this problem, some believe the problem lies in the Metropolitan Police Department’s “stop-and-frisk” policies and procedures. On October 8, Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) will hold a public oversight hearing to discuss these policies and procedures with the community. According to a release, the hearing will discuss topics such as “stop and frisk, jump outs, traffic stops, and use of SWAT-like teams.” During the hearing, the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety will hear public testimony from residents who have allegedly been unfairly stopped and detained or experienced other frustrations with MPD procedures.
Speaking with DCist in July, Seema Sadanandan, program director for the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital, said now that D.C. has decriminalized marijuana, the next step is police reform. “We need to start looking at the incentive structure from top to bottom,” she says, “from the federal government and the billions of dollars spent on drug enforcement to the local police districts.”
In a statement, Wells says that “recent incidents across the country and the disproportionate arrests and incarceration rates for minorities—especially for black men in D.C. and elsewhere—demonstrate that we are far from that ideal and that no community is immune from the need to examine these issues.”
Following the hearing, the Committee will reconvene a week later to discuss MPD’s “stop-and-frisk” policies, as well as the possibility of requiring officers to wear body cameras.
The hearing will be held Wednesday, October 8 at 6 p.m. at Howard University’s School of Business Auditorium (2400 6th Street NW, 2nd floor). Anyone who wants to testify should contact Nicole Goines at 724-7808 or ngoines@dccouncil.us
