While it has yet to be determined whether interim Metropolitan Police Chief Jeffery Carroll will navigate the D.C. Council confirmation process, some of the activists weighing in on his appointment have minced no words in expressing their disappointment in D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s choice.
April Goggans of Black Lives Matter DC says that, at the helm, Carroll will continue to perpetuate a culture at Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) that’s rooted in domestic terrorism against Black people and other marginalized populations, harassment of Black female colleagues, and collusion with white supremacists.
“It is not about merit, community trust, or accountability” Goggans told The Informer. “It is about loyalty, immediate, unquestioning loyalty to the police state and to political power, even when that loyalty requires suppressing dissent, violating constitutional rights, or protecting misconduct.”
Goggans, a Black Lives Matter DC core organizer since 2015, recounted instances when MPD, under then-Executive Assistant Chief Carroll’s command, allowed the Proud Boys and their affiliates to gather and inflict harm on protesters during the first Trump presidency.
In 2022, amid allegations of unfettered connections between police officers and white supremacist groups, a group of Black women MPD officers who filed a discrimination lawsuit against the department cited footage of Carroll standing alongside members of what civil rights organizations have deemed a white supremacist group.
Those Black women documented what’s been described as years of disparate treatment, retaliation and hostility under Carroll’s leadership, all of which the current interim police chief allegedly ignored, even as complainants navigated Equal Employment Opportunity processes within the department.
Goggans said she’s seen firsthand MPD’s collusion with white supremacists and violence against Black women.
“I watched him stand calmly, without expression, while they threatened to kill us directly in front of him. There was no intervention. No acknowledgment of the danger,” Goggans told The Informer. “When they physically attacked people, there was still no response. At one point, I watched those same individuals spray MPD officers in the face with chemical irritants. Carroll did not react then either.
As revealed in the Black Lives Matter DC v. Trump lawsuit, MPD coordinated with federal agents to conduct similar activity near Lafayette Square during the summer of 2020. That same day, in what’s currently facing a federal court challenge, Carroll led officers on Swann Street in Northwest in their use of “kettling”— a controversial practice where swathes of officers confine protesters into a space and conduct mass arrests.
In his role as senior leader and chair MPD’s Use of Force Review Board, Carroll acknowledged the police department falling short in reviewing use-of-force incidents— including that involving the late Karon Hylton-Brown— by narrowing the scope of investigation and ignoring context that could reveal discrimination and violation of policy.
Goggans, who’s demanding a thorough council confirmation process, remains skeptical that a change in leadership is the end all, be all in rectifying several of the issues that she, other activists, and a significant portion of marginalized District residents have with the police.
“With the same structures, oversight power, enforceable discipline, and continued reliance on the police, any chief will reproduce the same violence,” Goggans said. “Residents have been warned for years not to place hope, relief, or safety in the hands of any police chief. This appointment proves why.”
Pinto Asks Questions, Newly Minted Interim Metropolitan Police Chief Speaks
During the earlier part of December, Goggans counted among more than 100 people who flooded Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest during a marathon committee hearing that allowed for discussion about MPD-federal law enforcement collusion, much like what Goggans and other activists said they witnessed during the first Trump presidency.
Weeks later, on Dec. 18, D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) sent a letter, co-signed by all her council colleagues, to outgoing Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith demanding several data points, including: the total number of federal agents that participated in joint patrols with MPD between Aug. 11 and Dec. 14; the nature of MPD collaboration in immigration enforcement; and how restrictions in federal law enforcement activity, as stipulated in the D.C. code, have been communicated.
That information is due on Jan. 9, well after Smith’s last day as police chief.
“Representatives from MPD were present to answer some questions from council members and I appreciate this engagement even though you, as chief, were unable to attend,” Pinto, chair of the council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, said about the Dec. 4 hearing in her letter. “However, questions remain and those are included herein. MPD’s formal response will help provide clarity to the committee and the public, ensure accountability, and bolster public trust.”
Because Carroll will serve throughout the duration of Bowser’s final term of mayor, it’s yet to be determined whether she will put him through the confirmation process. That uncertainty hasn’t stopped discussions, however. Days before Bowser revealed her appointment of Carroll, Pinto told The Informer about the qualities she seeks in the person taking MPD’s top spot.
Her concerns center on recruitment and community trust.
“We need to be able to handle our local crimes locally with our local police department,” Pinto said. “They [the next police chief] need to be someone who is committed to ensuring that civil rights and human rights are upheld for every District resident, that there’s transparency and accountability within the department. Someone who can be a good partner to us on the council and our community, with our faith leaders, with the mayor, as we navigate this uncertainty with the federal government.”
Carroll, an MPD veteran of more than 20 years, has served in various roles, including as head of the department’s Special Operations Division. During his tenure, he oversaw operations related to the World Series, Stanley, and more recently, the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
On Dec. 17, the newly minted Interim Chief Carroll spoke before an audience that included Bowser’s public safety team and members of his family, expressing his gratitude to the mayor and MPD colleagues for this career milestone.
“Your confidence in me is both humbling and motivating, as I’m committed to leading this department with integrity, transparency, and a strong sense of duty to the people that we serve,” Carroll said. “I appreciate your leadership and your continued support for the Metropolitan Police Department. Public safety is not the responsibility of one individual or one department. It’s a shared effort. I look forward to working closely with the community, all of our district agencies and city leaders, to keep the district safe, strong, and united.”
Carroll steps into interim chiefdom amid questions about alleged crime data manipulation. The U.S. Justice Department and U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued reports accusing Smith of pressuring subordinates to wrongly categorize crimes, which federal and congressional officials said lowered MPD officer morale.
Bowser, who lambasted the reports as incomplete, has since revealed that the D.C. Inspector General will conduct an investigation. Meanwhile Carroll said his areas of focus include: improving officer training in crime data classification; enhancing policy and technology control; and enhancing the records management system to alert members to changes and compel further review.
“Something we’re looking at is the development of a dedicated auditing team,” Carroll said, “to look at all the reports on the backend to make sure that reports, after they’re completed, submitted by the officials from the various bureaus and police districts, there’s an independent group within the police department that can look at those reports and make sure they’re appropriately classified.”
Carroll also spoke about MPD’s current relationship with federal law enforcement, as outlined in a post-surge mayoral order that sparked controversy earlier this year. He told reporters that he hasn’t given much thought about whether to dissolve that enhanced relationship.
“Right now I just wanted to kind of take a look at the operations of the police department, kind of see where we’re at, and then any decisions about policy changes and things like that, give it a little time with that,” Carroll said. “We’ll continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners. We’ll continue not to be directly involved with immigration enforcement as we have in the past. And, again, we’ll continue to work forward to make this city a safer place.”
A Valiant Attempt at Unity That Fell Short
Deep in the trenches of Ward 8, where community members have a polarizing relationship with MPD, Charnal Chaney conducted her annual Week of Healing activities— all as part of an effort to address deep-seated trauma preventing unity.
Between Dec. 8 and Dec. 14, Chaney and a cohort that included activists, clergy and healers of various modalities hosted events in communities east of the Anacostia River. One of those activities, on the night of Dec. 11, started with a peace walk along Alabama Avenue in Southeast, from MPD’s Seventh District headquarters to New Image Community Baptist Church.
The goal, as Chaney explained, was to include MPD, members of the National Guard, and community members in an activity that would conclude with an intimate discussion at New Image.
“I think it’s taking the uniform off of people, whether that’s with the work they do, the position they’re in, the type of leader they are, and bringing them back down to a human,” Chaney told The Informer. “We are able to come together and see how these positions that we’re in sometimes can be harmful to people we are in community with… It’s just starting there, person to person, and then we can take it back to our workplaces.”
That goal didn’t quite come to fruition.
The National Guard didn’t participate in the peace walk. While members of MPD community outreach coordinators followed behind marchers in a vehicle on the night of Dec. 11, none of them entered the church grounds to participate in the discussion.
MPD didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about why the coordinators’ actions, or lack thereof.
For a couple of hours, a group that included Chaney, the Rev. Anthony Motley, the Rev. Ronald Greenfield of New Image, Min. Ryan Lindsey Arrendell of Salt & Light Ministries, and Baba Alejaibra Badu engaged in conversation about the church’s role in deterring MPD collusion with federal agents, all while attempting to come to a common understanding about spirituality.
Earlier, when speaking about her endeavor, Chaney hinted at more to come. She told The Informer that addressing federal occupation, and the tenuous police-community relationships that existed long before the second Trump presidency, requires a solution that’s not of this world.
“Everybody’s hurting. The National Guard don’t want to be here just as much as they are here, and some of them are from here, that had to be here,” Chaney told The Informer. “So I think creating a safe space for everybody to heal, even if it has to be in separate spaces for now, is where we have to start, but eventually the goal is for all of us to be able to be in the same space, to come to some community goals rather than what the government is pushing more to community.”