Calls to Defund Violence Interruption in D.C. Are Misguided

The union representing officers in the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) recently responded to the arrest of a City Council member on bribery charges by calling on city leaders to defund the District’s Community Violence Interruption (CVI) program.

But the union’s demand reveals an astounding lack of awareness and would push the city in exactly the wrong direction. 

There are multiple violence interruption programs in D.C., which train unarmed community members to de-escalate and mediate conflicts before they lead to bloodshed. While those programs demonstrably work, the arrest of D.C. Council member Trayon White for allegedly taking bribes on behalf of two violence interruption contractors has unfairly made some community members and policymakers question the programs altogether. 

In response, D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton released a statement demanding all violence prevention programs be shut down citywide.

“Members of the D.C. council are loathe [sic] to admit that ‘violence interruption’ is just another failed concept and that fully funding policing is the primary method to combat crime and improve public safety,” Pemberton said last month.

Thankfully, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith disagrees. During a press conference about a recent shooting by a police officer, Smith was asked about the District’s CVI workers: “Violence interrupters have been very instrumental in supporting us, I believe, with the crime reduction that you have seen across the District of Columbia.” 

That is true in D.C. and around the country. When announcing comprehensive public safety investments in June 2021, President Joe Biden praised violence intervention workers and pledged to expand funding towards such groups. 

Community violence intervention (CVI) programs “have been shown to reduce violence by as much as 60%,” according to the White House. “These programs are effective because they leverage trusted messengers who work directly with individuals most likely to commit gun violence, intervene in conflicts, and connect people to social, health and wellness, and economic services to reduce the likelihood of violence as an answer to conflict.” 

Despite violence interrupters’ demonstrated success, MPD’s police union is calling for the District government to slash millions of dollars in contracts that the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) awards to community-based organizations.

My organization, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), has worked with District government agencies, local philanthropy, and community-based organizations for the past few years to assess local violence prevention services, analyze gun violence in the District, and develop a comprehensive citywide violence reduction plan. 

We have been very open about the need to improve CVI in D.C., especially the need for better coordination. But a knee-jerk response of cutting these programs altogether would be unwise—and unequal. 

The union did not call for the closure of the police department when, in December last year, one of their officers received a 32-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl. The union did not call for the closure of the police department when another one of its officers was sentenced to 19 years for sex trafficking of minors. Nor did the union call for the department’s closure when an MPD lieutenant was arrested and indicted for aiding the Proud Boys in rioting at the Capitol on January 6, where fellow police officers were severely injured. Again, where was the call for such harsh punishment when yet another MPD officer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for child pornography and child sexual abuse charges?  

Just as the criminal behavior of so many individual officers over the years should not result in the closure of the police department, the crimes of one or two CVI leaders should not result in the shuttering of life-saving programs. 

In assessing gun violence and implementing violence reduction strategies, my organization has worked with numerous police departments around the country, and MPD is one of the most impressive departments we have found. Similarly, the work of many community-based violence interrupters, who put their lives on the line every day to mediate and intervene in conflicts in the District, is also impressive. 

As NICJR noted before, the structure, coordination, focus, and accountability of the violence intervention work in D.C. needs to improve. But that is not the fault of the CVI workers. That is the responsibility of the D.C. government. The District has yet to implement a citywide, coordinated, appropriately funded, and correctly managed violence reduction strategy. Now is the time to do so. 

Such a plan will require increased investment in CVI. As Chief Smith said, that strategy will boost the police. A better-informed union would call for an increase in funding to CVI, not an end. 

David Muhammad is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, a non-profit organization that provides technical assistance to gun violence reduction efforts in cities across the country and has worked for many years in the District.

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