The D.C. Council will take a final vote Tuesday on a sweeping crime bill.
Controversy swirls around the legislation that addresses gun violence, carjackings, retail theft and more.
Council Member Brooke Pinto, who chairs the council’s judiciary committee, will try to get one provision that was in the original bill but voted out by the council last month back into the final bill. She will try to give police the authority to collect DNA samples from suspects before they are convicted.
“This is a common-sense intervention that will help us close cases. It will help drive down recidivism. It will support victims. It is really outrageous to me that it was taken out in the first place,” she said.
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Nine of the 13 council members voted to remove DNA collection from the bill.
Pinto has made some changes to the original proposal that she hopes will sway enough of her colleagues to get the DNA provision back in the bill. Originally, she wanted to give police authority to collect DNA at the time of arrest; she has now stepped that back.
“We should collect and analyze DNA after charging has been made and after a judge has determined that there’s probable cause to bring a case, and for a slightly narrower category of cases. So, these will be our violent felonies and crimes of violence, and our sexual assault misdemeanors,” Pinto said.
Other provisions of the legislation that are expected to face some opposition include giving police the power to designate drug-free zones in high-crime areas.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said he expects drug-free zones to remain in the legislation.
“If there’s an effort to strike the drug-free zones from the bill, I don’t think that will be successful,” he said.
The bill in its current form also would:
- increase penalties for some gun crimes
- make it easier for judges to detain adults and juveniles charged with violent crimes while they await trial
- refine circumstances when police are allowed to engage in a car chase
- expand the definition of carjacking
- expand retail theft charges
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The U.S. attorney for D.C. and Mayor Muriel Bowser support putting DNA collection back into the legislation. The ACLU of D.C. and other groups have opposed it.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
