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.
FY 2024
- Improved Guidance on Protective Pat Downs
- Differentiating Field Contacts from Investigatory Stops
- Education-Based Development in Lieu of Discipline
- Improved Guidance on Involuntary Emergency Hospitalization Procedures
- FY22 Implementation Update
FY 2023
- Policies and Procedures for Appropriate Use of Handcuffs During Investigatory Stops
- Leveraging Random Reviews and Body-Worn Camera Analytics to Enhance Police Training and Minimize Use of Force Incidents
- Policies and Procedures for Edged Tools
- FY21 Implementation Update
- Presidential Executive Order 14074
FY 2022
- Use of Hair Holds by Metropolitan Police Department Officers
- Improved Guidance on Communicating with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community Members
- Enabling Sound During the Pre-Event Buffer on Body-Worn Cameras
- Warrantless Misdemeanor Arrests
- FY20 Implementation Update
FY 2021
- Marijuana Trained Drug Detection Canines
- FY19 Implementation Update and Reexamination of FY15-18 Implementation Updates
- Discipline
- Stop and Frisk Data Review
FY 2020
- Automated License Plate Readers
- Lawful Firearms
- Personal Use of Social Media
- FY18 Implementation Update
FY 2019
- Handling Property
- Duty to Intervene
- Updates for the Crisis Intervention Officers Program
- Using Litigation Data to Improve Policing
- FY17 Implementation Update
FY 2018
- MPD's Outside Employment Policies
- Viewing Body-Worn Camera Footage On-Scene
- MPD Language Access
- Officers Parking and Towing Vehicles
- FY15 and 16 Implementation Update
FY 2017
- Consent Search Procedures
- Blocking Passage
- District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department Policy and Procedures
- OPC Monitoring of the Inauguration January 20, 2017
- OPC Monitoring of the "Women's March" January 21, 2017
- Notice of Infraction for Excessive Idling
- Language and Conduct
- Ensuring MPD Policies and Procedures are Current
FY 2016
FY 2015
- Improving MPD's Policy on the Use of Chokeholds and Other Neck Restraints
- Business Cards Revisited: Improving Identification Requirements for MPD Officers
- Proper and Timely Training of DCHA OPS Officers on Contacts, Stops, and Frisks
- Ensuring the Accuracy of Address Information in Warrants Executed by MPD Officers
- OPC Monitoring of the National Action Network's "Justice for All" March December 13, 2014
FY 2014
- Enhancing Police Accountability through an Effective On-body Camera Program for MPD Officers
- MPD Enforcement of the District's Window Tint Law
FY 2013
- Bicycle Safety and MPD Enforcement of the District's Biking Laws
- Warrantless Entries into Private Homes by MPD Officers
FY 2012
FY 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)
FY 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)
FY 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)
FY 2008
- Monitoring Citizen Complaints that Are Investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the DC Housing Authority Police Department (Updated February, 2013)
- 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)
FY 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)
FY 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
- Monitoring of Antiwar and Anti-Globalization Protest
FY 2005
- 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