WASHINGTON D.C., DC — The D.C. Police union head wants an end to violence interruption programs in the District, at least until there's a "thorough audit."
In a statement posted on social media Monday, DC Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton wrote that the recent arrest of D.C. Councilmember Trayon White, exposed deep flaws in these programs.
"It comes as little surprise that White was one of the principal supporters of funding violence interruption programs in lieu of hiring police officers and strengthening proven public safety measures," Pemberton wrote.
He told WUSA9 Tuesday night that White's arrest, and the details of the FBI's investigation is concerning.
In August, D.C. council member White was arrested by the FBI. He's accused of taking up to $156,000 in bribes with the promise of further kickbacks. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and will lose his seat on the council.
"So what that says is that at best these are some shady fly by night operations at worst they're completely corrupt and engaged in bribery," said Pemberton.
He told WUSA9 that there needs to be a thorough investigation into how violence interrupter programs operate.
"Somebody shut these programs down at least temporarily until some objective group can come in and take a look and figure out exactly what's going on there. If we find organizations are doing right by the law and the community then sure they should be out there doing what they need to do," said Pemberton.
Pemberton said that, "in funding violence interruption organizations, the council chose to give millions of taxpayer dollars to shady businesses touting unproven approaches to improving public safety."
"My first reaction was a bit of disappointment. We see ourselves as partners in DC's public safety ecosystem and to hear such outlandish comments come out was very disappointing," said Marcus Ellis, the executive director of Peace for DC.
Peace for DC has trained more than 100 violence interrupters. The nonprofit launched the first DC Peace Academy in the summer of 2022, determined to better equip these "peacemakers" with the tools to help curb the violence plaguing D.C. neighborhoods.
"They have a unique skill set to deescalate situations of violence. To prevent them before they happen and after they take place they have the skillset to help with mediation so that violence does not continue to spew in our communities," said Ellis.
He told WUSA9 Tuesday night that he was surprised when he saw the statement by the DC Police Union.
"It was somewhat out of left field. We're talking about just one week ago when the chief of police for MPD endorsed the work of community violence intervention and really gave us credit for being part of the decreases we're seeing in our city," he said.
He's referring to what MPD Chief Pamela Smith said when asked about the violence interrupter programs across the district, after the death of Justin Robinson.
"The violence interrupters have been very instrumental in supporting us in the crime reduction that you have seen across the District of Columbia," said Chief Smith during a press conference last week.
But Pemberton said that said that "violence interruption is another failed concept and that fully-funded policing is the primary method to combat crime and improve public safety" and called on the D.C. Council to "admit that."
He said that the Metropolitan Police Department is still not fully staffed, with "ranks remaining at nearly a 50-year low". Adding that "if the Council is serious about addressing crime in the District" they should "stop funding unproven, fraudulent programs and fully fund MPD, including measures to bolster recruitment and retention."
Pemberton says there's no data to show that violence interruption programs are working.
"There is zero data anywhere that any of these programs have any efficacy and in fact these folks don't document anything they're doing so I don't know how we could ever measure their success or failure rate in any shape or form," said Pemberton.
Ellis called Pemberton's statements, unfair.
"I'm fairly certain that there are members of the Metropolitan Police department that are under investigation right now and we're not talking about ending the police department so it's not fair to do that with community violence interruption either," he said.
He also said he'd be open to discussing how the program works with the DC Police Union chair.
"I am open to a conversation to really explain the intricacies of our work and how these data driven approaches do not just work in the District of Columbia but nationally. Let's work together. We're all in the business of saving lives, so the finger pointing is really just uncalled for. Let's work together to save lives in DC," said Ellis.
WUSA9 asked Pemberton if he'd be open to a conversation with any of the violence interruption program organziers.
"We'll work with anybody, but by their nature they do not talk or communicate with police," said Pemberton. "Anyone who calls me from any section of the city who wants to talk about public safety, I'm more than willing to sit down and figure out how we can solve problems. Violence interruption does not sound like the type of organization that wants to work with the police. So, I'm not gonna hold my breathe on that."
In the post on social media, Pemberton wrote:
Based on the corruption revealed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District’s violence interruption program, the D.C. Police Union is calling on the District to take the following actions:
- Immediately cease the funding and operations of all violence interruption programs operating through the D.C. government until a complete and thorough audit and investigation can be conducted of their activities.
- Immediately terminate the contracts of any violence interruption programs that have failed to properly follow all program procedures (including background checks) or that have made any financial contributions to any political officeholder.
- Engage in a comprehensive study to ascertain whether any of the violence interruption programs have produced a measurable level of effectiveness or results, and the costs associated with the results.
- Establish the necessary initiatives and funding to properly staff the Metropolitan Police Department with the appropriate number of sworn officers that has been identified by Mayor Bowser as necessary to reduce violent crime and protect the residents, visitors and businesses in the District.