The DC Police Union filed a lawsuit last Friday in DC Superior Court, seeking an injunction that would prevent the public release of body-camera footage documenting civilian deaths involving officers, which is required as part of the recently passed police reform legislation.
“As determined by US Attorney Michael Sherwin in his letter to the Council, the release of the body-camera footage and names of officers will unjustly malign and permanently tarnish the reputation and good name of any officer that is later cleared of misconduct concerning the use of force,” Greggory Pemberton, chairman of the union, said in a statement about the union’s injunction request.
“In addition, the mandatory release of the names of officers and BWC footage will place officers and the public at immediate risk of significant bodily harm.”
Pemberton accused the DC Council of recklessly placing the lives and reputations of officers on the line by taking all discretion away from Mayor Bowser.
DC Police Union Statement on Filing of Emergency Injunction Against Release of Officer Names and BWC. pic.twitter.com/RIysVHor4h
— DC Police Union (@DCPoliceUnion) August 10, 2020
“It is disappointing that city leaders have passed a law that intentionally endangers every police officer on this department. Making police work more dangerous is the antithesis of creating a better police department,” he added.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser will have to release video recordings of officer-involved deaths that took place over the past six years by August 15, 2020.
The obligation is part of the emergency legislation that passed the DC Council in a unanimous vote back last month.
The law that followed the racial justice protests prompted by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis stipulates that the DC mayor must release the name and body-worn camera recordings of any officer who committed a police-involved death or serious use of force within the first 72 hours after the incident.
The names of all the officers who have committed such acts that resulted in death since the launch of the body-worn camera in 2014 must also be publicized, as well as their camera recordings, according to the new law.
The DC Police Union also recently sued the District government over the same police reforms in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, saying parts of the law allows the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to easily fire officers over disciplinary actions without negotiations with the union.
DC Police Union Sues District Over Elimination of Collective Bargaining Rights