WASHINGTON (7News) — What began as a 7News I-Team investigation into disciplinary action against senior D.C. police officers implicated in a crime data manipulation scandal has uncovered another troubling issue: A law designed to make police disciplinary records more accessible to the public has never taken effect because it was never funded.
The discovery came after the 7News I-Team repeatedly pressed the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to release the results of completed administrative disciplinary proceedings involving senior officers named in the department’s own Internal Affairs investigation.
The investigation examined allegations that crime reports were improperly reclassified, making Washington, D.C., appear safer than it actually was.
Despite multiple requests, MPD declined to release the disciplinary findings.
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The reason? According to the department, a D.C. police transparency law approved years ago cannot be enforced because the D.C. Council never funded it.
The I-Team’s discovery raises new questions about police accountability and why a law intended to provide greater public oversight has remained inactive for years.
The 7News I-Team has been tracking the disciplinary status of 13 senior MPD officials implicated in the crime reporting scandal and named in the department’s Internal Affairs audit.
Of those 13 officers, three have completed the administrative disciplinary process. One executive assistant chief retired, another captain left the department, and a third captain returned to duty. The I-Team previously identified those officials as Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright, Captain Subrena Rivers, and Captain Carline Modl.
Wright retired, Rivers left MPD, and Modl returned to full duty.
What the department has not revealed is what disciplinary findings or penalties, if any, resulted from those proceedings.
Were any officers suspended? Demoted? Formally disciplined? Despite repeated inquiries, MPD has not provided those answers.
The remaining 10 officials continue to be on paid administrative leave, according to MPD’s latest update.
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Seeking answers, the 7News I-Team requested the records under Section 134 of the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022.
The provision was designed to expand public access to police disciplinary records, including case dispositions, disciplinary hearing records, factual findings and discipline imposed. Instead of releasing the records, MPD informed the I-Team that the provision was not in effect.
In an email to 7News, the department’s Office of Communications wrote:
“Section 134 of the ‘Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022’ which contains the amendment to D.C. Code 2-534 (d-1) that you cite does not yet apply. Pursuant to section 301 (Applicability) of the Act, the amendatory language of section 134 shall apply upon the date of inclusion of their fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan. Since the funding for this section has not yet been included in an approved budget and financial plan, it is not in effect.”
— Metropolitan Police Department, Office of Communications
The response exposed a significant gap between the transparency law approved by the D.C. Council and what the public can actually access. Although lawmakers passed the legislation, the funding required to activate Section 134 was never included in an approved budget and financial plan.
As a result, MPD maintains it is not required to release the requested disciplinary records under that provision.
The revelation comes amid one of the department’s most significant internal investigations in years, involving allegations that senior police leadership improperly reclassified crime reports and raising questions about the accuracy of crime statistics released to the public. The scandal also contributed to the resignation of former MPD Chief Pamela Smith.
D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto, chairperson of the Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, told the 7News I-Team that police accountability depends on transparency, particularly when officers are accused of violating the public’s trust.
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“I think that it is really important, as we have a public police department that is accountable to the public,” Pinto said. “Especially when we have officers who have been involved in things that include a violation of that trust and of the oath they’ve taken, we need to make sure that we continue forward with accountability.”
Pinto acknowledged that the transparency requirement remains unfunded.
“Unfortunately, like many provisions of the law that have been passed at the council, this provision has not been completely funded. And that is not right,” she said.
After learning that MPD was relying on an unfunded law to deny access to disciplinary records, the 7News I-Team examined official D.C. government documents to determine how the transparency requirement had been left unenforced. The investigation uncovered roughly 35 pages of D.C. laws and statutory provisions identified as partially funded or not funded at all.
Among them is Section 134 of the police reform legislation.
A Jan. 18, 2024, D.C. Council report specifically identifies Sections 105, 134, and 135 of Law 24-345 as “NOT FUNDED.”
The documents show how laws approved by elected officials can remain inoperative for years when lawmakers fail to provide the funding necessary to implement them. In the case of Section 134, that funding gap means the public cannot rely on the provision to obtain disciplinary findings involving officers accused of serious misconduct.
Pinto told 7News I-Team investigator Scott Taylor that the Council is working to address the problem.
“We really want to make sure that those provisions move forward and receive the funding that they need,” Pinto said. “And it’s something, as we have a new mayoral administration, we’re working with them on and ensuring that a lot of the provisions that we’ve passed over the last couple of years receive the funding that they need.”
The 7News I-Team also examined the original fiscal impact documents associated with the police reform legislation. When the D.C. Council approved the legislation in 2022, official estimates projected it would cost approximately $4,987,000 over four years to fund three additional provisions, including Section 134.
The estimated cost for fiscal year 2023 alone was approximately $1.23 million.
Four years later, the disciplinary transparency provision remains unfunded. To put the estimated cost into perspective, the District has approved a budget approaching $22 billion for fiscal year 2027.
The nearly $5 million estimate covered all three provisions over four years, not just the disciplinary transparency requirement, and it would have included nine new employees.
The findings raise a central question: Why has a law designed to make police disciplinary decisions more transparent remained inactive years after the D.C. Council approved it?
The I-Team’s investigation began with a straightforward question: What disciplinary action did MPD take against senior officers implicated in its crime data manipulation scandal?
For now, MPD continues to cite that funding failure as its reason for withholding the requested records under Section 134.
The 7News I-Team will continue pressing MPD and D.C. officials for answers about the disciplinary findings, the status of the remaining officers, and when the transparency law will finally take effect.
Source: wjla.com
