Good evening, CM @tweetelissa! It has been a busy week. Thank you for your patience. Here is my Twitter policy proposal for which you asked. https://twitter.com/tweetelissa/status/1244976408872587265

Obviously, the city must take measures to prevent the spread of COVID19. However, we know that policing and criminalization just causes more harm on communities in DC.

The goal here is: 1. education, 2. stopping folks from congregating, and 3. de-escalation, correct? Other front-line employees from DC government, such as ONSE, need to fill this role.

Unfortunately, the ONSE has been opaque, sparsely used, and is potentially improperly funded (you still can and should fix this problem btw). https://www.acludc.org/en/news/aclu-dc-budget-oversight-hearing-statement-office-neighborhood-safety-and-engagement-dc-council

Find DC employees to safely disperse crowds that cannot detain people and are not lethally armed. Don’t use short term thinking when considering which DC employees are needed to fill these gaps.

The city instead defaults to using MPD for conflict resolution, mental health crises, housing crises, and social work. MPD has a track record of unnecessary escalation to violence.

It is unclear if just being outside constitutes "reasonable suspicion" or a "special needs" search. Does being outside warrant a Terry stop?

It sounds like soccer or basketball is now "reasonable suspicion". An officer seeing that would reasonably think you are violating stay-at-home. That’s might even be probable cause. This ambiguity is extremely dangerous.

“Arrest is a last resort” doesn’t mitigate this danger. In bad faith, Peter Newsham constantly seeks more latitude for his force. We know this because of Newsham's obstinance to facts, resistance to oversight, & politicking against your colleagues fighting for less incarceration.

We also know, from MPDs own data, that "calls for service" is the #1 reason provided for stopping and frisking young black men in DC. We cannot continue to give our most paranoid neighbors more reasons to treat the police like customer service.

Residents shouldn't be able to trigger a police dispatch because they think pedestrians aren't properly following social distancing.

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In conclusion, I urge you, @tweetelissa, to find an alternative to using police as a mechanism of public health.