Free DC testimony before the DC Council’s Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety
On December 4, 2025, Free DC’s Local Government team mobilized members of the public to testify before the DC Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety about the harms of the federal occupation on public safety. This testimony was part of Free DC’s ongoing efforts to compel Councilmember Brooke Pinto to hold a hearing on the Metropolitan Police Department’s cooperation with federal forces.
Organizer Sam Davis testified on behalf of Free DC. Her testimony is featured below:
Testimony of Free DC before the Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety
Thursday, December 4, 2025
John A. Wilson Building, Room 500
Delivered by Samantha Davis
Chair Pinto and members of the Committee,
David Warren Childs is the person who an MPD officer shot and killed on November 17 in Deanwood.
Demetrius Alston is the person who died while in the custody of Metro Transit Police on November 16 in Anacostia.
Kevin Booker is the person who an MPD officer shot and killed on November 14 near Georgetown.
Justin Brian Nelson is the name of the man who an HSI agent opened fire on during a traffic stop on November 13 on Minnesota Ave. SE.
Phillip Brown is the name of the man who an HSI agent opened fire on during a traffic stop on October 17 on Benning Road.
Hundreds of Black and Brown people, including children, have been stopped, harassed, and arrested by MPD officers together with federal agents in recent months. One judge called one of these incidents, “without a doubt the most illegal search I have seen in my life.”
And thousands of our immigrant neighbors have been arrested or disappeared in DC just this year.
This is the context in which Free DC submits this testimony. Free DC is the renewed campaign to protect DC Home Rule and win lasting dignity for the people of the District of Columbia. To us, that includes DC’s right to administer a local police department free from federal interference.
Since the start of this year and especially since August, three things have happened:
More federal agents are policing DC now than we have seen in a lifetime.
Federal agents are openly ignoring the law and violating people’s constitutional rights here and across the country.
The Metropolitan Police Department is cooperating with and learning from these federal agents in unprecedented ways.
This cooperation is the most serious threat to public safety that DC currently faces.
This cooperation is happening under the so-called “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force.” DC cannot control whether Trump creates such a Task Force, but we can control whether or not our local police participate in it. They arguably should not.
Just this week, a federal judge ruled that ICE’s warrantless arrests in DC are unconstitutional. In her ruling, that judge described the people directing ICE’s operations in DC as “ignorant or incompetent, or both.” Those are the people leading the Safe and Beautiful Task Force.
This Task Force has been changing MPD’s behaviors in our communities — and those changes are serious. Under this Task Force:
Local police killed three Black men in the span of just four days.
An HSI agent shot into the car of an unarmed Black man — and an MPD officer was ordered to omit the agent’s shooting in the official report.
In one incident when bystanders objected, an officer said, "If you have such a problem with us, don't call 911 next time."
Federal agents and MPD have worked together to target Black youth, stopping, and harassing young people simply for being outside.
MPD was present at an immigration raid in Georgetown on October 24, in which residents described forced entry, guns pointed at them, and the specific targeting of Latin or Latin-seeming residents.
These are just some of the abuses MPD has helped federal agents carry out over the last several months. There is not enough time to list all of them.
Chair Pinto, why has it taken you this long to even simply hold a hearing about this? Each day of silence from your office allows more families to be torn apart, and more residents to lose faith that DC’s leaders will defend our rights. We need decisive leadership, not complicity.
Because we aren’t powerless. The tactics used by these federal agents reveal several ways that DC Council can protect DC residents and prove that you truly care about safety.
All of these are within DC Council’s legislative power, and some could be done immediately through emergency legislation, without Congressional or executive approval.
Prohibit federal officers working with MPD from covering their faces, and force them to adhere to our existing laws on public identification.
Require that all officers from all agencies at the scene of an MPD arrest be listed by name and badge number in an arrest report, along with descriptions of their use of force.
Repeal local qualified immunity protections for federal officers making arrests under DC law, as well as any law enforcement officer who invades our schools, community centers, or houses of worship solely to harass and snatch children.
Require MPD to file a report on any interactions they have with a minor, including conversations on the street.
Conduct an independent investigation of all officer-involved shootings in 2025, and release the names and body camera footage of all officers involved.
Close the loophole in the Sanctuary Values Act so it applies to all DC agencies, including MPD.
Prohibit MPD from coordinating with federal agents in sensitive locations, like schools, healthcare facilities, and organizations providing aid.
Prohibit MPD from contacting federal agents over personal possession of marijuana.
Strictly limit any agreements between MPD and federal law enforcement regarding requests for back-up in consensual encounters, traffic stops, and checkpoints on DC streets.
DC’s communities deserve transparency and accountability. We deserve to know the full story of MPD’s coordination with federal law enforcement agencies, including immigration agencies. And we all deserve a safe and thriving community.
Thank you.