More than twenty senior police officers in Washington D.C. Will not return to duty at the end of April as their contracts come to an end. Over half of these officers have been dismissed due to alleged serious misconduct, according to Fox 5 DC. The remaining nine were not renewed for unknown reasons, though police spokesperson Tom Lynch clarified that all had previously retired and re-joined Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) on a yearly basis.
The Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 led to the dismissal of twelve officers due to serious misconduct in their backgrounds, as it bars police departments from appointing new personnel with similar infractions in the past. Introduced last year during George Floyd’s killing by a policeman and strengthened before Christmas under Mayor Muriel Bowser, this legislation has transformed disciplinary procedures for officers while making access to records simpler when there are possible instances of police misconduct or serious harm cases such as choking victims through neck restraints.
The D.C. Police Union voiced concerns over the new law’s impact on their members in a statement released after learning about these dismissals, calling it “the worst piece of public safety legislation that [D.] Council has ever passed”. According to them, this bill prohibits hiring sworn personnel if they have received sustained discipline from any police department. The Union explained how the new regulation affected officers with past administrative matters at MPD over twenty years ago and made these individuals ineligible for re-employment due to prior disciplinary issues – regardless of their career performance within DC’s community.
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