FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 23, 2020
Contact: Black Lives Matter DC, press@dcblm.org
Black Lives Matter DC Responds to the Appointment of Contee as Interim Police Chief of the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)
Black Lives Matter DC continues to celebrate what amounts to the well earned demotion and effective removal of Chief Peter Newsham. He was exactly who we told the Council he was before his confirmation.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement of Assistant Chief Robert Contee as Interim Chief is no surprise to us. “The media seem far more interested in his selection than we are. It's just another day in DC for us. The police got a raise and hundreds of thousands in overtime but still cannot stop the blood from running in our streets,” says NeeNee Taylor, a Core Organizer with BLM DC. Our fight has always been and will remain a fight against the institution of policing. We are clear that the race, origin story, and birthplace of any person occupying the position of Police Chief will never “fix” policing, and that reform doesn’t work. Policing is a job. Cops are not drafted, or heroic “chosen guardians'' of the people. They apply, train, go to work and get a paycheck and if the job is too difficult they can just quit.
Mayor Bowser ignored the recommendations of the DC Police Reform Commission for selecting a new chief of police, while many of the Councilmembers who created the commission remain noticeably silent. Similarly the Mayor, likely positioning herself for possible reelection, ignored the recommendations of Judiciary Committee Chair Councilmember Charles Allen.
Robert Contee is currently the Assistant Chief over the Investigative Services Bureau, which houses the Narcotics and Special Investigations Division (NSID). We have long fought against this unit’s illegal jumpout tactics, targeted harassment, exclusive use of force on Black people, and ties to white supremacy. April Goggans, Core Organizer with BLM DC explained, “Like Mayor Bowswer and Chief Newsham, Contee continues to support aggressive tactics such as stop-and-frisk, which he says remove illegal guns off the street even if only in Black neighborhoods. Yesterday he doubled down on his commitment to the relentless use of these kinds of tactics despite their failure as demonstrated in MPD’s own data.”
We expect no transformation with this appointment. The excitement over what looks and sounds good will soon give way to reality. We remain unmoved by performative gestures, spirited oration, and attempts at iconic imagery.
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Black Lives Matter DC is a member-based abolitionist organization centering Black people most at risk for state violence in DC, creating the conditions for Black Liberation through the abolition of systems and institutions of white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism.