Councilmember Sharon Ambrose
Councilmember Jack Evans
Councilmember Vincent Orange
Councilmember Harold Brazil
A PROPOSED RESOLUTION IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
Councilmember Sharon Ambrose introduced the following resolution, which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
To declare the sense of the Council in support of the United States Attorney’s
expansion of the Community Prosecution Initiative currently operating in the Metropolitan
Police Department’s Fifth District to other police districts in the District of Columbia,
with the aim of eventually expanding the program to every police district in the city.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited
as the "Support for the Expansion of the United States Attorney’s Office Community
Prosecution Initiative to Other Police Districts Beyond the Fifth District Sense of the
Council Resolution of 1999".
Sec. 2. The Council finds that:
(1) In June of 1996, the United States Attorney’s Office Community Prosecution
Initiative was established with the mission of increasing public safety through community
based prosecution by reducing crime and improving the quality of life in the District’s
neighborhoods.
(2) The Community Prosecution Initiative currently operating in the Fifth Police
District in Wards 5 and 6 assigns participating Assistant United States Attorneys to
prosecute cases solely within the geographic boundaries of assigned Patrol Service Areas
(PSAs).
(3) The Community Prosecution Initiative has enabled Assistant United States Attorneys
to acquire a detailed knowledge of the types of crimes, criminals, and policing issues
that exist within the PSAs to which they are assigned.
(4) The knowledge and experience that the Assistant United States Attorneys gain
through the Community Prosecution Initiative has led to productive partnerships between
the Attorneys and citizen community policing organizers within the participating Patrol
Service Areas. These partnerships have resulted in better and more complete government
prosecutions, the improved prioritizing of the types of cases to be "papered" in
each Patrol Service Area, the enhanced enforcement of measures such as court ordered
"stay away orders", and the education of citizens on the prosecution process.
(5) During its first two and a half years of operation, the Community Prosecution
Initiative has successfully improved the prosecution of government cases and has
complemented the community empowerment policing initiatives currently underway in the
Fifth District.
(6) There exists in Ward 6 police districts, and in districts throughout the city,
support for the expansion of the Community Prosecution Initiative.
Sec. 3. It is the sense of the Council that the United States Attorney
should build on the success of the Fifth District’s experience with the Community
Prosecution Initiative and make every effort possible to expand the model to other police
districts in the District of Columbia, with the aim of eventually expanding the model to
every police district in the city.
Sec. 4. It is the sense of the Council that the expansion of the
Community Prosecution Initiative to other police districts would further assist Patrol
Service Area teams and communities across the city in their efforts to improve their
quality of life and empower their neighborhoods through community policing.
Sec. 5. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first
date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.