[PR] Mayor Bowser’s Letter to the Council

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

(Washington, DC) – Ahead of the Council of the District of Columbia’s first vote on the Fiscal Year 2021 Budget, Mayor Muriel Bowser urged the Council to seriously consider several key issues that are broadly problematic for sound budgeting and the operations of our government in the response and recovery from the pandemic and the recession it caused.

Among the concerns outlined by the Mayor in a letter sent to Chairman Phil Mendelson and members of the Council is the reduction in funding for the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Cadet Program, a very effective program that recruits and employs officers who are both from and familiar with DC neighborhoods and plays an important role in recruiting women and officers of color. Additionally, the Mayor highlights concerns with reducing the MPD budget by nearly $10 million, a reduction that would result in a level of sworn officers that has not been seen in DC since the 1990s, with seemingly no analysis on the impact this cut would have on the deployment of officers, officer response times to calls for service, and on community and neighborhood safety.

The Mayor’s full letter to the Council is attached.