FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2025
Contact: Samantha Manning, Communications Director
COUNCILMEMBER PINTO INTRODUCES HER “PEACE DC” PLAN TO CONTINUE TO DRIVE DOWN CRIME AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE PEACE IN THE DISTRICT
Washington, DC – Today, Councilmember Brooke Pinto, Chairwoman of the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, introduced a comprehensive plan to continue to drive down crime and promote sustainable peace in the District. Her Peace DC plan builds on the significant progress in crime reduction following last year’s passage and implementation of Councilmember Pinto’s Secure DC omnibus package.
Peace DC takes critical steps to (1) empower youth and strengthen neighborhood harmony by setting up young people for success and improving guardrails for deferred prosecutions, (2) prevent violence by merging the District's violence interruption programs and improving training, oversight, and coordination, (3) support our public safety workforce by creating new retention measures for police and firefighters, and (4) reduce recidivism by creating pathways for formerly incarcerated people to reenter communities with stable housing and gainful employment.
“By working together, we made tremendous progress in making the District safer after Secure DC went in effect last year, and we must build on that progress with focused interventions to promote sustainable peace in the District,” said Councilmember Pinto. “Peace DC will strengthen our violence prevention efforts, help set up youth and formerly incarcerated people for success and enhance support for our crucial public safety workforce.”
Councilmember Pinto’s Peace DC plan includes:
- Merging the District’s violence intervention programs currently housed at OAG and ONSE and holding a public roundtable on her proposed outline for a successful merger
- Introducing the Justice-Involved Youth in Community Act of 2025
- Introducing the Safe Passage Training and School Engagement Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Residential Tranquility Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Pretrial Detention Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Kidnapping Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Department of Corrections Deferred Retirement Option Program (DOC DROP) Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Metropolitan Police Department Training Academy College Credit Opportunity Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Project Homecoming Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Fair Hiring Opportunities for Public Employment (HOPE) Amendment Act of 2025
- Introducing the Helping Incentivize Returning Citizen Employment (HIRE) Amendment Act of 2025
- Re-introducing the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) Amendment Act of 2025
- Supporting funding for the Safe Passage program
- Supporting funding for truancy support
- Supporting funding for the Access to Justice Initiative grants
- Supporting funding for Safe Commercial Corridors grants
- Supporting funding for Nonprofit Safety and Security grant
- Supporting funding for the Violence Prevention and Response Team (VPART)
- Supporting funding for hospital-based violence intervention to provide services to gunshot victims and prevent retaliatory shootings
- Supporting funding for hiring, staffing, and retention at MPD, Fire and EMS, DOC, and other public safety agencies
- Supporting funding for housing and financial supports for returning citizens
- Holding a public hearing on the Case Closure & Witness Support Amendment Act of 2025
- Holding a public hearing on the Evidence-Based Gun Violence Reduction & Prevention Act
- Holding a joint public roundtable with the Committee on Health on supporting trauma-informed responses to behavioral health crises
To improve public safety, Councilmember Pinto’s Peace DC plan will:
Empower Youth & Strengthen Neighborhood Harmony by:
- Supporting Justice-Involved Youth: Providing wrap-around supports and follow-ups with justice-involved youth through a trusted adult in the year following a court agreement and guardrails for noncompliance with deferred prosecutions. The Justice-Involved Youth in Community Act of 2025 requires that if OAG enters into a deferred disposition agreement, deferred prosecution agreement, or consent decree with a youth offender, and the youth offender is subsequently deemed noncompliant with the agreement or decree, then the agreement or decree will be revoked and disposition, prosecution, or commitment, respectively, will proceed as if no agreement or decree had been entered.
- Strengthening Safe Passage Coordination and Ambassador Training: Improving communication and coordination between schools and Safe Passage program participants, and enhancing, standardizing and universalizing training, including monthly training on engaging in de-escalation, communicating with and changing behaviors with young people; considering training to identify neuro-divergent behaviors to support students through the Safe Passage Training and School Engagement Amendment Act of 2025.
- Promoting Residential Tranquility: Protecting residents’ peaceful enjoyment of their home through reasonable protections against excessive noise and projectiles and harmful targeting of residences in residential areas through the Residential Tranquility Amendment Act of 2025.
- Amending the District’s Kidnapping Statute: Amending language in the District’s kidnapping statute to ensure a penalty is enforced when a perpetrator intends to hold a victim for 24 hours or more (instead of 72 hours or more); establishing clear penalties for second degree and attempted kidnapping through the Kidnapping Amendment Act of 2025.
- Supporting Student Attendance: Funding the expansion of the DHS Truancy Pilot. DHS, in partnership with select public high schools, has piloted a new way to quickly address truancy and provide supportive services for students and families with court involvement. Students with 15 full-day absences from school can be referred to DHS. This program should be expanded to include middle schools.
- Retaining Funding for Access to Justice Grants: Supporting low-and-moderate-income District residents’ access to legal support, services, and protection needed to mitigate the long-term impacts of acute situations such as eviction and unemployment.
- Continuing Funding for Safe Commercial Corridors: Providing flexible funds to organizations for the purpose of promoting public safety along commercial corridors.
- Securing Safety for Nonprofits: Supporting expansion of DMPSJ security grants for religious institutions and other nonprofit organizations. Religious institutions and other nonprofits require specific safety supports to prevent and respond to extremist and hate-motivated attacks.
- Encouraging Witness Assistance: Holding a public hearing to discuss the Case Closure and Witness Support Amendment Act of 2025 to explore improvements on how we assist witnesses and close more cases.
“One of PAVE families’ top concerns is making sure our students travel to and from school safely and we are proud to see Councilmember Pinto’s bill, The Safe Passage Training and School Engagement Amendment Act of 2025, that reflects PAVE Parent Leaders’ priorities.This bill will enhance coordination and will equip our Safe Passage Ambassadors with the skills and training they need to better support our kids. We want to see every child have the resources they need to succeed in school and continuously improving on our Safe Passage Program through this legislation is a critical investment in their education and in their future,” said Maya Martin Cadogan, Founder and Executive Director for PAVE (Parents Amplifying Voices in Education).
Prevent Violence by:
- Merging Violence Interruption Programs: Improving coordination, efficiency and outcomes by merging OAG’s Cure the Streets and ONSE’s Violence Intervention Initiative (VII) under ONSE. We must establish an advisory committee to ensure a smooth transition.
- Strengthening VI Training: Improving program quality and effectiveness with standardized training for violence interrupters.
- Enhancing VI Model: Adopting an evidence-informed violence intervention model that is neighborhood-based and focused on the highest-risk individuals rather than a ward-based model.
- Tracking VI Performance: Collecting and analyzing key metrics to track and evaluate performance and effectiveness of the VI model.
- Enhancing VI Oversight: Strengthening oversight of VI programs to ensure ethics and accountability.
- Making Pretrial Rebuttable Presumption Permanent: Making permanent the Secure DC provision to expand the rebuttable presumption to apply to all charges of crimes of violence, regardless of whether the individual has previously been convicted or charged with a crime through the Pretrial Detention Amendment Act of 2025.
- Preventing Crimes: Supporting funding for the Violence Prevention & Response Team (VPART) to work to reduce and prevent crimes by providing critical coordination for community stakeholders, law enforcement, and victim services.
- Preventing Retaliatory Shootings: Supporting continued funding for the Hospital-Based VI Program, which is critical to prevent retaliatory shootings and ensure staff are present to provide services to gunshot victims at all hours.
- Preventing Gun Violence: Holding a public hearing on the Evidence-Based Gun Violence Reduction and Prevention Act, which establishes a Group Violence Intervention Initiative and an organizational structure to guide the efforts of the Initiative.
“DC must be a place where all residents and visitors can live, work, and play in peace” said Councilmember Pinto. “My Peace DC plan will keep us moving in the right direction to promote sustained peace and prosperity across the District.”
Support Public Safety Workforce by:
- Improving Police/Fire Retention: Reintroducing the Deferred Retirement Option Program Amendment Act of 2025 to improve retention of our most experienced firefighters and police officers.
- Improving Corrections Officer Retention: Introducing the DOC Deferred Retirement Option Program Amendment Act of 2025 to improve retention of our most experienced corrections officers.
- Allowing College Credits for MPD Training: Introducing the MPD Academy College Credits bill to allow MPD recruits to earn college credit through the MPD Academy and count those credits toward the education requirements. MPD faces significant competition from neighboring jurisdictions that have different qualification requirements, starting salaries, and incentives and this measure will help make our police department more competitive.
- Increasing Funding for Public Safety Workforce: Supporting increased funding for hiring, staffing, and retention at MPD, Fire and EMS, OUC, DOC, DYRS, and other public safety agencies.
"Councilmember Pinto’s DROP bill will help recruit people to careers in public safety, retain experienced employees, and provide predictive attrition all while remaining cost-neutral for the District,” said David Hoagland, President of Local IAFF Local 36.
Reduce Recidivism by:
- Increasing Reentry Pathways: Promoting the adoption of a 6-month reentry pilot program for people incarcerated by Federal Bureau of Prisons to finish sentences locally at DOC to help facilitate successful reentry and connections with family and services.
- Providing Housing Support for Returning Citizens: Investing in support for housing for formerly incarcerated people through the Project Homecoming Act of 2025.
- Providing Financial Assistance for Returning Citizens: Funding vouchers for returning citizen for housing and transportation.
- Increasing Government Employment Opportunities for Returning Citizens: Improving opportunities for returning citizens to be hired within the DC government through the Fair Hiring Opportunities for Public Employment (HOPE) Amendment Act of 2025.
- Increasing Private Sector Employment Opportunities for Returning Citizens: Incentivizing returning citizen employment within the private sector through the Helping
Incentivize Returning Citizen Employment (HIRE) Amendment Act of 2025.
“Housing insecurity remains one of the greatest barriers to successful reentry for residents who return home to the District from prison each year. When returning citizens have safe housing, they are more likely to secure employment and help their families and communities thrive. Project Homecoming and the HIRE Act in Councilmember Pinto’s Peace DC Plan are critical steps in ensuring returning citizens have access to supportive and structured housing. We support the swift passage of these bills to help returning citizens thrive in our communities,” said DC Reentry Action Network (RAN) Co-Chairs Paula Thompson and Chiquisha Robinson.
“Increasing employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals will bolster our workforce and help District businesses attract new talent. The HIRE Act recognizes that returning citizens face disproportionate unemployment rates because of hiring barriers, and the economic impact hurts us all in lost wages. We support this proposal and Councilmember Pinto’s plan to offer employers who hire our returning residents a significant tax credit,” said Chinyere Hubbard, President and CEO of DC Chamber of Commerce.
Below is a summary of the co-introductions of bills.
- Justice-Involved Youth in Community Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmembers Charles Allen and Anita Bonds.
- Safe Passage Training and School Engagement Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmembers Brianne K. Nadeau, Anita Bonds, and Zachary Parker.
- Residential Tranquility Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmembers Wendell Felder and Matthew Frumin.
- Pretrial Detention Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmember Anita Bonds.
- Kidnapping Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmember Anita Bonds.
- Department of Corrections Deferred Retirement Option Program (DOC DROP) Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmembers Matthew Frumin and Christina Henderson.
- Metropolitan Police Department Training Academy College Credit Opportunity Amendment Act of 2025 is introduced with Councilmember Wendell Felder and co-introduced by Councilmember Matthew Frumin.
- Project Homecoming Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmembers Matthew Frumin, Brianne K. Nadeau, and Anita Bonds.
- Fair Hiring Opportunities for Public Employment (HOPE) Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmember Bonds.
- Helping Incentivize Returning Citizen Employment (HIRE) Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Councilmembers Matthew Frumin, Brianne K. Nadeau, Anita Bonds, and Zachary Parker.
- Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) Amendment Act of 2025 is co-introduced by Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmembers Christina Henderson, Zachary Parker, Matthew Frumin, Anita Bonds, Kenyan McDuffie, Janeese Lewis George, Charles Allen, Robert White, and Brianne K. Nadeau.
