The District of Columbia is breaking one of the very laws it created.
An audit found that key elements of a mandate to prevent violence and reduce crime have been ignored for years, and rather than creating the public safety program required by the law, instead, the mayor's office is simply claiming that it has.
A difficult reality for Aujah Griffin, whose father, David, was having a mental health crisis in the spring of 2022. He needed help that emergency responders weren’t trained to give, prompting a 7News I-Team investigation. The 47-year-old father and grandfather, with a history of mental illness and drug use, fell into the Washington Channel. He died while EMTs called for police assistance.
They should have been able to call specialized behavioral health teams, trained to step into exactly these situations, but we discovered those teams don't exist.
“That potentially could have made an impact not only on his life but probably countless others as well,” said Aujah Griffin.
Six years ago, the D.C. Council unanimously passed a community safety law called the NEAR Act of 2016. It stands for Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Act. It required sweeping reforms including the creation of Community Crime Prevention teams. These teams were to be comprised of police officers and behavioral health specialists who would travel and respond together for cases exactly like David Griffin’s, where drugs, mental health and homelessness are factors
But a recent investigation, by the District of Columbia Auditor, found that the city failed to create the teams mandated by the law.
“Knowing that these teams have not been formed, that they are not putting the people out into the community as they should? I’m just sort of speechless,” said Aujah Griffin. “Because I don’t know how you get away with these types of things."
Not only were the Community Crime Prevention teams never created, but 7News also discovered that the mayor's NEAR Act website claims the teams have been fully funded and are operational.
It’s a lie,” said Griffin. “How can you blatantly lie and get away with it? And you know, there's no consequences for that. I do not understand. I don't. I do not understand.
Neither does Georgetown Law professor and former Deputy Chief at the U.S. Department of Justice, Christy Lopez.
You don't really get to unilaterally decide that you've complied with the law when you very clearly haven't,” said Lopez.
The mayor has publicly claimed she created her own version of the teams that satisfy the law.
But Lopez and the auditor report say that's not how it works and that the mayor's claim "is not accurate" and her version of the teams does not meet the requirements of the law.
D.C. Council member, Kenyan Kenyan McDuffie, authored the NEAR Act.
7News Senior Investigative Reporter Lisa Fletcher asked McDuffie what the public thinks when the government isn't enforcing the very rules that it has established.
“In this case,” said McDuffie. “We created and passed one of the most significant laws to address crime prevention and intervention and it's not yet been fully implemented.”
Fletcher: “Whose job is it to implement it?”
McDuffie: “Well, it is the job of the executive branch agencies to do so."
Fletcher: “Who would that be?”
McDuffie: “I don't want to point fingers. What the public doesn't want is for people who are elected leaders across the District of Columbia to point fingers, what they want is action.”
Fletcher: "They do want accountability though. How much more difficult is it going to be to get it enacted when the administration has on its website that it's already enacted?"
McDuffie: “Frankly, I’ve asked that question in oversight.”
Fletcher: “What was the answer?”
McDuffie: “Well, that they think they've fully implemented it. I disagree.”
We asked Mayor Bowser to sit down with us and talk about why her administration is claiming community crime prevention teams exist when they don't. She declined our request for an on-camera interview.
The mayor's office did tell 7News they do have the policy to provide appropriate services for people who have behavioral health needs. That policy includes partnering with MPD to provide community crime prevention, hiring a behavioral health partnerships coordinator and providing crisis intervention officer training.
"The Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) partners with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) through policy and programming to provide community crime prevention teaming through de-escalation. DBH Crisis Response Teams work in collaboration with MPD to support adults who are experiencing emotional, psychiatric or substance use vulnerabilities and are connected with appropriate services through emergency 911 dispatch and referrals. This year, MPD hired a Behavioral Health Partnerships Coordinator to continue to strengthen the department’s work to serve individuals with behavioral health needs and the communities in which they live. The new MPD staff member previously worked for DBH, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and has experience working with individuals diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness or who are in need of immediate crisis intervention.
DBH also works with MPD to provide Crisis Intervention Officer (CIO) training; and, in FY 2022, began providing Mental Health First Aid for First Responders (MHFA). By the end of the 2023 training season, all MPD officers will have had either CIO or MHFA training. Both trainings are based on comprehensive national or international models.
Deputy Mayor Christopher Geldart"
Aujah Griffin said she’s been waiting since March for someone from the administration to answer questions about mistakes made by 9-1-1 leading up to her father's death.
She said it's hard not to think about what might have been if laws were followed and mistakes were not repeated.
“If the work had been done so long ago,” said Aujah Griffin. “All of the lives that have been lost from that point on could have potentially been saved."