The Secure DC Omnibus bill, or “crimnibus”, will roll back hard-won protections against police violence and expand MPD’s power to injure and kill DC residents by 1) giving cops more flexibility to restrain people by the neck, 2) making it easier for cops to engage in deadly, high-speed car chases, where they can ignore all traffic laws, and 3) giving Metro Transit Police the power to detain someone who does not provide their name and address when being cited for fare evasion.

Expanding state-sponsored violence is always the wrong choice–in every circumstance. Today, we are asking you to call and email the DC Council asking them to reject every change in the crimnibus that rolls back protections against police violence and expands MPD’s power to injure and kill DC residents. Scroll to learn more about the provisions, why they are bad, and what the Council should do instead.

Sample script:

Ideally call all 13 members. But if you can’t, prioritize calling your Ward’s Councilmember, the Chairman, and the at-large members! Remember to mention that you are a DC resident and/or a resident of that councilmember’s ward. Use the whole script or use just a section of it to leave a message on a issue you want to highlight!

Hi, My name is _____, and I am calling to ask you to REJECT the provisions in the Secure DC Omnibus that roll back hard-won protections against police violence and expand MPD’s power to injure and kill DC residents.

Secure DC will give police more flexibility to restrain people by the neck. While chokeholds that cut off air or blood flow would still be illegal, the bill will let cops use other dangerous moves to control or restrict a person’s movement. This opens the door to cops exerting force and pressure on someone’s neck that can’t be proven to have restricted blood or air flow, but can cause serious head, neck, and spinal injuries.

Secure DC will make it easier for cops to engage in deadly, high-speed car chases, where they can ignore all traffic laws, rolling back hard-won protections put in place after police chases tragically killed Jeffrey Price & Karon Hylton-Brown. Since 1979, police car chases have killed someone nearly every day, almost half of whom were bystanders and pedestrians. In 2023, there were 52 traffic fatalities in DC, the highest total since 2007. It is dangerously irresponsible to pass legislation that will likely lead to more deaths.

Secure DC will allow Metro Transit Police to detain people if they refuse to give their full name and address when cited for fare evasion, a civil (not criminal) infraction. This will give DC cops yet another tool to target individuals who are poor, Black, brown, unhoused, or experiencing housing instability. In 2018, DC Council decriminalized fare evasion—now, Secure DC is trying to create loopholes to recriminalize it. Instead, fund the Metro for DC Act! You can’t fare-evade if there is no fare!

Councilmember, can I count on you to REJECT the provisions in Secure DC that allow police to restrain people by the neck, make it easier for police to engage in deadly, high-speed car chases, and create loopholes to recriminalize fare evasion?

Phone numbers:

If you can, please call all 13 councilmembers. But if you can’t, prioritize calling your Ward’s Councilmember, the Chairman, and the At-large members! Remember to mention that you are a DC resident and/or a resident of that councilmember’s ward. Don’t know what Ward you’re in? Find out here.

Learn more:

Neck restraints

• The crimnibus will give cops more flexibility to legally restrain people by the neck.
• While chokeholds that cut off air or blood flow would still be illegal, the bill will let cops use other dangerous moves to control or restrict a person’s movement.
• Allowing neck restraints to control or restrict movement opens the door to cops exerting force and pressure on someone’s neck that can’t be proven to have restricted blood or air flow (e.g., a headlock) but that can cause serious head, neck, and spinal injuries.
• What’s worse — the body-worn camera footage provisions in the bill (that we discussed on Wednesday) will also make it harder to hold cops accountable for injuring or even killing a person using a neck restraint.
• DC Council should REJECT provisions that allow cops to restrain people by the neck to control or restrict their movement.

Vehicular Pursuit

• The crimnibus will make it easier for cops to engage in deadly, high-speed car chases, where they can ignore all traffic laws. This will roll back hard-won protections put in place in 2021 after police chases killed two young Black men, Jeffrey Price & Karon Hylton-Brown.
• In 2021, the Council passed a law that restricted car chases to incidents where it is unlikely to kill or seriously injure anyone.
• The crimnibus will allow cops to engage in car chases even if it is likely to kill or seriously injure the “suspect” and will also change what counts as a “serious bodily injury.”
• Finally, the bill will remove specific dangerous chase tactics, like ramming, from a list of serious and deadly uses of force. While MPD claims these practices are prohibited under MPD policy, the change proposed in the crimnibus will enable MPD to change this policy at any time to allow these dangerous tactics.
• According to the Council Office of Racial Equity (CORE), loosening restrictions on car chases “will likely worsen safety outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color because research shows that pursuits are dangerous and do not deter crime.”
• CORE’s assessment also highlighted that “vehicular pursuits are extremely dangerous to bystanders, suspects, and even police. Data shows that a person has died nearly every day because of police car chases, and since 1979, almost half of all fatalities were bystanders and pedestrians.”
• In 2023, there were 52 traffic fatalities in DC, the highest total since 2007. It is dangerously irresponsible to pass legislation that will likely lead to more deaths. DC Council should REJECT provisions that invite more deadly, high-speed car chases and roll back back essential protections.

Fare Evasion

• The crimnibus will allow Metro Transit Police to detain people if they refuse to give their full name and address when being cited for fare evasion, a civil infraction.
• WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke has stated before that fare evasion enforcement can lead to arrests for outstanding warrants.
• The racism and classism of the criminal punishment system means that people from highly surveilled communities are more likely to have been arrested and criminally charged and have outstanding warrants, and this additional surveillance in the WMATA system will put them at higher risk of incarceration.
• Any unnecessary contact between cops and members of the public creates an opportunity for police violence, and these provisions will give cops yet another tool to target individuals who are poor, Black, brown, or experiencing housing instability.
• According to the Council Office of Racial Equity (CORE), these provisions “will have a negative impact on justice outcomes for Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color who ride the Metro — particularly because riders can be detained for refusing to provide their information.”
• In 2018, DC Council did the right thing by decriminalizing fare evasion. The Council should REJECT all provisions that create loopholes to recriminalize it. Instead, fund the Metro for DC Act! You can’t fare-evade if there is no fare!