MPD Tries to Gut New Law on Service of Process on Police Officers 
D.C. Council Had Enacted ACLU-NCA Proposal
Stopping Cops from Evading Police Misconduct Lawsuits by Hiding from Process Servers

D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers are notorious for their ability to evade process servers. The ACLU-NCA won a major victory when the Council passed a law that requires the police department to designate offices where service of process must be accepted on behalf of officers in cases arising out of their official duties. But the department responded by proposing implementing rules that would gut this requirement.
Support for Bill on Re-Entry of Ex-Offenders 
Enabling People to Be Law-Abiding Citizens

On their release from incarceration ex-offenders encounter great difficulty getting a job, finding a place to live, and being admitted to educational programs. Eliminating such discrimination is essential if the District of Columbia is going to be able to reintegrate the 3000 ex-offenders released in D.C. each year and enable them to be productive members of the community.
ACLU Opposes Eliminating Statute of Limitations for Child Sexual Abuse 
Notes Current Law Already Extends Limits and Provides Other Protections

In a letter to the Chair of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, Phil Mendelson, the ACLU-NCA voiced its opposition to Bill 17-146, which would eliminate the criminal and civil statute of limitations for certain sexual offenses against children. This bill is a reprise of a similar effort in 2004, which the Council rejected.

$$ Millions Wasted for Neighborhood Spy Cameras 
Information from Cameras Yields Not a Single Arrest

The Metropolitan Police Department has admitted that since the first of its 48 neighborhood “crime-fighting” cameras was installed on August 15, 2006 until March 17, 2007, “no arrests [were made] resulting from information found through camera surveillance.”
ACLU-NCA Supports Graham Nude Dancing Bill (17-109) As Originally Proposed 
Warns Amendments Run Risk of Keeping Clubs Closed

The ACLU of the National Capital Area told the D.C. Council that it "is obligated as a matter of law and fairness to facilitate the relocation of the clubs displaced by the construction of the new baseball stadium." The ACLU's June 11, 2007 letter also noted that nude dancing is activity protected by the First Amendment, although subject to legitimate zoning limitations.
Oppose Making Underage Drinking a Crime! 
Enforce Existing Law Before Creating Life-Haunting Criminal Records

Because the police don’t issue civil citations to persons under 21 accused of drinking in night clubs as the law authorizes, club owners want to make it a criminal offense. (Selling alcohol to underage patrons is already a crime.) Thereafter, young people would have to answer "Yes" to the job and housing question, "Have you ever been arrested?"
The ACLU, Liberty
& the Law
Before the national ACLU was established in 1920, no law—however much it censored speech—was ever struck down as a violation of the First Amendment. When the public hears “ACLU” the two things that most come to mind are lawyers in court and the First Amendment.
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