The following statement was issued by Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6), who chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety:

“Today, in Black Lives Matter D.C. v. Bowser, the D.C. Superior Court held that the Metropolitan Police Department has consistently and unacceptably failed to comply with the Council’s mandate to collect comprehensive data about stops and frisks of District residents and visitors, including who is stopped, why, and what happens during and after the interaction. This requirement was passed into law by the Council three years ago, the Council funded the implementation costs, and still, for reasons I cannot comprehend, the Department has refused to collect and make all this data available. We entrust our officers with extraordinary powers, but those powers must be paired with oversight. As the Chair of the Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, I urge the Department to see the law’s requirements and the court order as opportunities to truly institutionalize a culture of transparency and accountability, build stronger relationships with communities of color, and ensure respectful and constitutional policing.”