Policy Recommendations

The Police Complaints Board (PCB), which oversees the Office of Police Complaints (OPC), is empowered to conduct periodic reviews and make recommendations to the Mayor, the Council, and the Chiefs of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and DC Housing Authority’s Office of Public Safety (OPS) concerning the status and the improvement of the citizen complaint process or elements of the two police departments’ recruitment, training, evaluation, discipline, and supervision of police officers.

Since its inception, PCB has issued numerous policy recommendations, many of which have been adopted by the police departments and other District agencies to improve citizen interactions with officers, enhance police accountability, and improve policing.  Below is a complete list of policy recommendations. 

List below shows progress made in implementing PCB’s recommendations as well as the latest updates.  These documents are provided in PDF format.

2012

•  Traffic Enforcement By Off-Duty Officers

2011

• Improving the Safety of Bicyclists and Enhancing Their Interactions with Metropolitan Police Department Officers  (Updated February, 2012)
• MPD Investigation and Reporting of Minor Traffic Accidents (Updated February, 2012)

2010

• Improving the District's Police Accountability System Through the Police Complaint Board's Adoption of an Open Meetings Policy (Updated March, 2011)  
• Increasing Public Awareness of District of Columbia Laws Governing Mopeds and Motor Scooters (Updated February, 2012)

2009

• Monitoring Citizen Complaints that Involve Police Response to Reports of Hate Crime (Updated February, 2012)
• Monitoring of April 2009 IMF/World Bank Protest (Updated February, 2012)
• Taxicab Drivers and MPD Enforcement of the District's Taxicab Regulations (Updated February, 2012)
• Public Drinking Arrests by MPD Officers on Residential Property (Updated February, 2012)
• MPD Provision of Police Service to Persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) (Updated February, 2012)

2008

• Monitoring Citizen Complaints that Are Investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the DC Housing Authority Police Department  (Updated February, 2012)
• Improving Police-Community Relations Through Diversion of Some Citizen Complaints to a Rapid Response Program  (Updated February, 2012)
• Video Cameras in MPD Police Cruisers  (Updated February, 2012)
• Categorization of Citizen Complaint Allegations (Updated February, 2012)

2007

• Drivers and Cellular Telephones: Increasing Public Awareness of District Law (Updated March, 2011)
• Medical Treatment for Arrestees  (Updated February, 2012)
• Monitoring of Protests: March and April 2007 (Updated June 2007)
• Addressing Biased Policing in Washington, DC: Next Steps (Updated July, 2010)

2006

• Enhancing Police Response to People with Mental Illness in the District of Columbia: Incorporating the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Community Policing Model (Updated February, 2012)
• Police Service to Disabled Persons Who Use Service Animals (Updated May, 2009)
• Business Cards for MPD Officers

2005

• Monitoring of Antiwar and Anti-Globalization Protest
• Property Damage Caused by District of Columbia Police Action
• Pretextual Stops of Bicyclists  (Updated May, 2009)
• Publication of MPD Orders on the Internet  (Updated May, 2009)
• Minors in the Care of Arrested Persons

2003

• Disorderly Conduct Arrests Made by Metropolitan Police Department Officers

2002

• Racial Profiling in Washington, DC