For Immediate Release:
July 9, 2020
Contact:
Matthew Nocella, mnocella@dccouncil.us, 202.286.1987
Chief Newsham has to go
Statement of At-Large Councilmember David Grosso
Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement from Councilmember David Grosso regarding the letter he sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser formally requesting her to relieve Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham of his position:
“Police impunity has persisted for too long, including right here in the District of Columbia. Earlier this week, the Council took what I hope is only a first step into reforming, reimagining, and ultimately dismantling the police department as we know it today. The Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Second Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 is an effort to hold individual police officers more accountable for their misconduct than we have in the past. However, D.C. has needed a culture shift at the Metropolitan Police Department for years now, one that requires us to demand more accountability of the police leadership that enables this misconduct. In order for D.C. to move forward on this reform, Chief Newsham needs to go.
“Chief Newsham has regularly engaged in an adversarial, rather than collaborative, relationship with the Council, even on piecemeal reforms. If we were to judge the bill and annual budget the Council passed based on the reaction of the Chief of Police, as well as the mayor, you would think we were firing half the officers in the city. The Chief has insulted the Council, Councilmember Allen in particular, and implied that this bill will increase crime and police brutality. A less generous reading of his comments may view them as threats.
“The recent demonstrations on our streets are a direct response to policing not only in the United States, but specifically about how MPD is managed and conducts itself in the District of Columbia. As I wrote to the Mayor, Chief Newsham pushes an outdated tough on crime approach to policing that results in violence and harassment of untold numbers of people, mostly Black, across our city. Meanwhile, crime keeps increasing. He has been responsible for thousands of illegal arrests and has cost our city millions in settlements. He has shown his contempt for protestors from Pershing Park to the 2017 Inauguration to Black Lives Matter Plaza, where he continues to direct police to attack demonstrators, using tear gas and violence in direct contradiction of the law we passed just weeks ago.
“While I noted many of these problems when the Chief was first appointed, and I voted against him, I hoped I would be proven wrong. All of the evidence, including this week’s credible revelation that he has misrepresented MPD’s involvement in the June 1 police attack on protestors, shows that, unfortunately, I was not. With whatever shred of confidence I had left for him now squandered, the time has come for new leadership at MPD.”
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You can read the letter to the Mayor here and below: