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6 THE UNIVERSITY OF TIlE DISTRlcr OF CoLUMBIA LAW REVIEW
Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., then enclosed and arrested them. Is Even
the M.P.D. has acknowledged that these arrests were unlawful. I6 Public concern
aroused by these police abuses led to hearings before the D.C. Council Committee
on the Judiciary and to the enactment of the First Amendment Rights and
Police Standards Act of 2004.17 In addition, in response to one of the ensuing
lawsuits, Abbate v. Ramsey,18 supra, the District of Columbia accepted a settlement
agreement and consent order that included a personal apology by the D.C.
Police Chief, the payment of substantial damages to those arrested, and significant
limits on police authority in handling demonstrations.
Part I of this article shows that the abuses of September 27, 2002, which precipitated
the legislative hearings and the lawsuit reSUlting in reform, were not an
isolated incident and that similar abuses occurred during the April 2000 antiglobalization
demonstrations. Indeed, these abuses date back to the Vietnam
War, thirty years ago, when the federal courts condemned them and awarded
victimized demonstrators millions of dollars in damages. Part II suggests that civil
disobedience and disruptions during mass demonstrations can be handled within
the bounds of the law. D.C. police supervisors' unlawfulness has been a failure of
will, not necessity. Part III points to the media's unwavering support, until recently,
as a major factor in encouraging Metropolitan Police Department management
to continue to rely on unlawful methods. Part IV summarizes the
reforms under the Abbate Consent Order and the First Amendment Rights and
Police Standards Act of 2004, with the Act attached as an appendix. These reforms
could be a useful model for other jurisdictions throughout the country.
I. THE HISTORY OF PREEMPTIVE AND BRUTAL D.C. POLICE ACTIONS
IN DEMONSTRATIONS
In the April 1968 riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., 6,000 people were arrested and detained in the District over a period of a few
days in the three areas racked by widespread arson, vandalism, and 100ting. 19
During the Vietnam War, from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, there were mass
arrests of antiwar protesters in the District, culminating in the first week of May
1971, during which almost 15,000 people were arrested and preventively de-
15 Manny Fernandez & David A. Fahrenthold, Police Arrest Hundreds in Protest, WASH. POST.
Sept. 28. 2002, at A-I.
16 Carol D. Leonnig, IMF Arrests Improper Police Found, WASH. POST, Sept. 13,2003, at B-2.
17 The legislative history of Bill 15-968 is available at www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us. Its text
is attached to this article as an appendix.
18 Abbate v. Ramsey, No. 03-CV-0767 (D.D.C.), which was filed by the American Civil Liberties
Union of the National Capital Area on behalf of seven plaintiffs arrested in Pershing Park, who
were seeking damages and injunctive relief.
19 See WILLIAM DOBROVIR, JUSTICE IN A TIME OF CRISIS, A STAFF REPORT TO THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS (1969), cited in
Sullivan v. Murphy, 478 F.2d 938, 946 n.11 (D.C. Cir. 1973).