Today, the DC Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety voted unanimously to approve budget recommendations for every agency in the District’s public safety cluster, totaling more than $1.7 billion and reflecting input from the public during agency performance and budget oversight hearings.

“In this budget, we’re fully funding the District’s public safety response to support immediate and sustained reductions in violent crime. That means both a funded Metropolitan Police Department and services that have an immediate impact in preventing and interrupting cycles of violence,” said Councilmember Allen. “We’re also making critical investments in services for domestic violence, sexual assault, and gun violence survivors, improvements in fire, EMS, and 911, and we’ve funded an unprecedented $25 million for legal services for District residents.”

The budget recommendations will now be considered by the full Council ahead of the first vote on May 10. Highlights from the Committee’s budget recommendations are included below:

Fully Funding the District’s Public Safety Strategies

• Strategically invests in public health-based approaches to community safety:
  
  
• • Approves and enhances the budget of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement – the District agency charged with promoting community-based strategies to prevent violence and improve community safety – by more than 19% to $34.1 million, with 90 staff; the agency was initially created and funded in FY18 with a budget of only $2.1 million and 16 staff, and the Committee has grown its budget each year since

• • Approves $9.7 million for new violence interrupters, for a total of $13.8 million for violence intervention contracts in 25 priority communities across the District

• • Approves $7.5 million for the Pathways Program – currently in its 10th cohort – to serve 200 residents at risk of committing or being victims of gun violence; Pathways is a transitional employment program that works to decrease participants’ involvement in the criminal justice system and improve their employment, education, and training outcomes 

• • • Approves an increase in the Pathways participants’ wages through a $1.1 million enhancement

• • Approves funding for 20 “life coaches” to support individuals identified in the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform’s Gun Violence Problem Analysis as being at high risk of committing gun violence, supplemented by an additional $475,000 in one-time local funds identified by the Committee for client incentives

• • Funds the Office of the Attorney General’s Cure the Streets violence intervention program at $11.3 million, which will support ten sites across the District

• • Identifies a $1.1 million enhancement for the District’s network of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs (“HVIPs”) through the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants, including $575,000 in recurring dollars to supplement the HVIPs’ FY23 proposed budget (including $300,000 from the Committee on Government Operations & Facilities) and $500,000 in one-time funding for a new HVIP project to develop, implement and evaluate protocols and training for law enforcement and medical providers to guide their interactions and reduce gun violence
    
    
• Approves the Executive’s proposal for an additional 347 Metropolitan Police Department sworn officers – including a $14.2 million enhancement to hire 108 new officers, convert 42 cadets, and keep on 17 senior police officers – and the following recruitment and retention incentives:
  
  
• • $500,000 for the Housing Allowance Incentive Program, a 150% increase over the FY22 approved budget, to cover six months of costs associated with temporary housing for new recruits

• • $1.2 million for the Police Officer Retention Program, a 200% increase over the FY22 approved budget, to subsidize tuition reimbursement and educational incentives

• • $5.2 million for a new enhancement for recruit hiring bonuses

• • $210,000 for a new enhancement for cadet conversion bonuses
    
    
• Improves community trust in, and accountability of, law enforcement by:
  
  
• • Identifying funding for the civilian Office of Police Complaints, with an enhancement of $152,000 for additional staffing

• • Including a new Budget Support Act subtitle and $673,610 to enhance stop and frisk data reporting by the Metropolitan Police Department and require basic budget, hiring, attrition, staffing, and overtime transparency
    
    
• Creates opportunities for individuals returning home from incarceration and detention to help them reenter successfully and prevent reoffending:
  
  
• • Funds $21.6 million for justice grants at the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants ($6.4 million in local dollars, $3.1 million in federal dollars, and $10.1 million in District Recovery Plan funds), including:

• • • As proposed:

• • • • Continues last year’s unprecedented $10 million investment in flexible funding for reentry services providers to support returning citizens with housing, transportation assistance, connectivity, and other temporary or immediate expenses 

• • • As identified by the Committee:

• • • • Grows reentry housing grants with an enhancement of $1 million in one-time local funds

• • • • Accepts $200,000 in recurring local funds from the Committee on Government Operations & Facilities and identifies an additional $500,000 in recurring local funds, for a total of $700,000 in additional funding for reentry grants

• • Identifies the full budget – $2.1 million in recurring local dollars – to continue the Department of Corrections’ (“DOC”) LEAD Up! and LEAD Out! Programs, pre- and post-release reentry and employment programs, respectively, that provide leadership, education, and development opportunities to residents incarcerated in or released from DOC or Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) facilities

• • Creates 5 new permanent paralegal positions at the Office of the Attorney General for graduates of the Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizen Affairs/Georgetown Paralegal Program

Addressing the Needs of Crime Victims and Survivors 

• Funds $40.1 million for victim services grants at the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants ($30.1 million in local dollars, $1.1 million from the Crime Victim Assistance Fund, $4.8 million in federal dollars, and $4.1 million in District Recovery Plan funds), including:
  
  
• • As proposed:

• • • $3.8 million in District Recovery Plan funds for additional units of emergency and transitional housing for victims of domestic violence 

• • • $350,000 in District Recovery Plan funds for grants for LGBTQ+ residents for targeted services and dedicated emergency shelter housing

• • • $1.9 million for trauma-informed mental health services and alternative healing options for victims of gun violence  

• • As identified by the Committee, an additional:

• • • $575,000 in recurring and $500,000 in one-time local dollars to supplement the proposed budget for Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs, as noted above

• • • $500,000 in recurring local dollars to support the organizational viability of victim services providers, such as through increases to staff salaries
• • • $1 million in one-time local dollars for domestic violence services grants
• • • $1 million in one-time local dollars for sexual violence services grants
      
      
• Includes a Budget Support Act subtitle to promote transparency by requiring that the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants publish information about its funding awards and budget
  
  
• Approves $1.9 million in ARPA funds for same-day access to trauma-informed mental health services for victims of gun violence
  
  
• Approves $2.2 million in ARPA funds for a flexible housing assistance program for victims of gun violence and residents at-risk of victimization with relocation and short- to medium-term housing stabilization

Improving the Conditions of Detention and Confinement

• Approves a transformational $251 million investment to build a new annex to the Correctional Treatment Facility that will serve as a reimagined treatment and residential facility
  
  
• Approves $25 million in capital investments to maintain safe, secure, and humane conditions for residents at the Central Detention Facility and Correctional Treatment Facility until the new annex can be completed 
  
  
• Identifies $200,000 in recurring local funds to improve the monitoring of conditions of confinement in DOC and BOP facilities by hiring a new Deputy Director and Program Analyst at the Corrections Information Council
  
  
• Includes a new subtitle and $300,000 in recurring local dollars for a grant through the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants to provide special education legal representation to emerging adult defendants with disabilities by a legal services and advocacy organization serving older students with special education needs who are involved in the District's justice systems

Expanding Access to Justice and Enhancing Legal Protections for Vulnerable District Residents 

• Funds $25.7 million for civil legal services for low-income District residents:
  
  
• • $16,739,000 for Access to Justice grants, including enhancements of:

• • • $1 million in recurring local funds identified by the Committee

• • • $1 million in one-time local funds identified by the Committee for a new coordinated civil legal services intake project

• • • $1.5 million in recurring local funds and $1.5 million in one-time ARPA funds from the Committee on Labor & Workforce Development for eviction diversion coordination

• • $950,000 for the Loan Repayment Assistance Program for Poverty Lawyers, including an enhancement of $600,000 in one-time local dollars

• • $8,000,000 for the Civil Legal Counsel Projects Program for eviction defense
    
    
• Enhances funding at the Office of the Attorney General to protect District residents and consumers:
  
  
• • Funds $182,000 and a new Senior Antitrust Trial Attorney to protect consumers from price fixing, bid rigging, and other anti-competitive behavior

• • Partners with the Committee on Labor & Workforce Development to accept $656,299 in ARPA funds for two new temporary Paid Leave Enforcement Attorneys

• • Partners with the Committee on Government Operations & Facilities to accept $155,868 in recurring local dollars for a new Public Corruption Trial Attorney and $106,347 in recurring local dollars for a Workers’ Rights Paralegal

Investing in Fire, EMS, and 911 

• Approves $4.7 million to bring on an additional 34 firefighter/emergency medical technicians and 16 firefighter/paramedics
   
• Invests in critical Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (“FEMS”) capital projects by approving:
  
  
• • $16.5 million for the development and construction of a new Engine 7 and to complete the relocation of Engine 26
    
• • $15.4 million in FY23 for the purchase and replacement of 12 ambulances, 2 ladder trucks, and 5 pumpers 
• • $77.8 million for the FEMS Fleet Maintenance Reserve Facility
• • $16.2 million for a new Fireboat – 1
    
    
• Identifies $225,000 in one-time local dollars to replace gym equipment for 5 firehouses, in addition to the 3 already funded in FY23
   
• Continues enhancing funding by $172,000 in recurring local dollars for the FEMS O2X Human Performance Program, which will address employee wellness and help personnel manage the daily stresses of serving on the front lines 
• Approves $2.4 million to support the Office of Unified Communications – the District’s 911 call center – by adding 13 call takers, 10 dispatchers, and 5 assistant watch commanders 
   
• Identifies an additional $100,000 in one-time local funding to provide recruiting incentives to support the recruitment of 911 call-takers and dispatchers 
  
  
• Approves $250,000 in recurring local funding to provide rebates to property owners and lessees for the purchase and installation of AEDs in publicly accessible areas and $98,000 in recurring funding for the hiring of one full-time employee at FEMS to manage the rebate incentive program 
  
  
• Identifies $90,640 in one-time and recurring local funding and includes a new Budget Support Act subtitle to create a telecommunicator CPR (t-CPR) training program at the Office of Unified Communications  
  
  
• Includes a new Budget Support Act subtitle to require training and continuing education for FEMS and MPD personnel on identifying and interacting with individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias
  
  
• Identifies $200,000 in one-time local dollars to transfer to the Committee on Health for a pilot program within the Department of Behavioral Health’s Crisis Services team to provide counseling to survivors of natural and human-made disasters such as house or building fires, structure collapses, public transit crashes, and other small- to mid-size incidents

###