The D.C. Council is set to repeal a law that allows police to arrest drivers for having expired tags, even though it is not clear how effective the practice is in preventing larger crimes. At the request of Mayor Vincent Gray, the council is taking up emergency and temporary legislation that would immediately repeal a law that allows cops to arrest drivers in the District for having tags that have been expired for at least 30 days. However, the Metropolitan Police Department has not handed over any statistics to lawmakers — including the council chairman — who have requested information on how often the arrests occur or how often they are used to charge someone with a larger crime.
Kris Baumann, president of the police union, said taking away a law without studying its impact first was irresponsible.
“What we would probably never know is what violent offender we would have been able to arrest on this and other charges,” he said. “In public safety … you can’t calculate the harm that you save.”
A spokeswoman for MPD said she did not know if the department had provided officials with arrest statistics. Officials at the mayor and chairman’s office and Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson said they have not received a response to their requests for more information.
A 10-year veteran on the police force told The Washington Examiner he’s made “great cases by just getting an unregistered auto. Guns, wanted people, drugs, anything and everything.” The officer said his cases stemmed from arrests in which registration had been expired for up to two years.
At-large Councilman Mendelson is chairman of the committee where a permanent repeal bill would eventually be heard. Mendelson initially supported the law when complaints surfaced a year ago but said on Monday that D.C.’s practice was “out of step” with surrounding jurisdictions.
“We seem to be at the rear,” he said. “We don’t need to know precisely how many folks are getting arrested when no one else is getting arrested elsewhere.”
