On Tuesday, March 5, the DC Council voted to approve the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act, a bill that claims to address public safety and has 100 provisions ranging from metro fare evasion to auto theft to food quality in jails. Last month, we shared our concern that this bill further criminalizes already marginalized communities in DC, including Black and Brown DC residents and our unhoused neighbors. It also fails to address the root causes of the very public safety issues it intends to address, including resource scarcity and vast wealth disparities. Alarming amendments passed in this legislation include face mask bans, harsher fines for fare evasion, drug-free zones, pre-trial DNA collection, and police transparency rollbacks.
Because the bill was accompanied by emergency legislation to allow for quick implementation, Secure DC has already been funded, and we have already seen its harmful impacts. Arrests and citations for fare evasion have gone up drastically as have arrests in “drug-free zones,” which disproportionately target people experiencing homelessness.
For example, individuals cited for fare evasion are now required to show ID and give their name and address. If they refuse, they can be arrested. Many of our unhoused neighbors may not have their papers or ID as a product of being unhoused and may be more likely to be arrested than their housed peers.
In newly established “drug-free zones,” police can warn a group of two or larger to disperse and, on the second warning, they have the power to arrest those who have not dispersed, regardless of the presence of drugs. This is particularly harmful to our unhoused neighbors who may live in areas designated as “drug-free zones.”
As an organization actively working to combat the criminalization of homelessness and to disrupt the jail–homelessness cycle, Miriam’s Kitchen is deeply concerned about Secure DC and the impacts we are already seeing across the District. For example, between the week before the legislation was enacted and the week after, there was an increase of almost 200% in citations related to fare evasion.
The passage of Secure DC prioritizes criminalization and policing over providing necessary resources to the community. Mayor Bowser is moving through this budget season under the pretense that we are in a fiscally restrictive budget year, justifying drastic cuts to our Health and Human Services department while finding millions of dollars to increase policing in our communities.
Despite data showing this does not make communities safer, we are disappointed to see yet another jurisdiction use carceral approaches to public safety. The DC Council Office of Racial Equity published a racial equity impact analysis of Secure DC explaining that it will likely exacerbate and harm Black and Brown communities and that “several of the bill’s provisions aimed at increasing public safety are not substantiated by evidence-based research.” As a result, the analysis underscores that “several of the bill’s provisions will (or will likely) exacerbate racial inequity in the District.”
Know your rights!
To learn more about changes to DC law and your rights, please register for the Black Lives Matter DC Street Law 101 session here. This session will cover what to expect during an interaction with the police (differences between laws vs. what actually happens), your rights, what you should know and do, and the types of resources available.
Register here to attend in person at the Black Workers and Wellness Center (Free childcare, food, and ASL interpretation will be provided!) Register here to attend virtually.
