A Study of Bias in Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's Threat Assessment Process

By Sammie Wicks, Jennifer Zeunik, Frank Straub, Elyse Hansen, John Donahue, and John Sullivan

The purpose of the Institute’s independent review of the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) protest threat assessment process is to determine whether threat assessments conducted by MPD have been or are influenced by bias when planning for and executing a response to First Amendment demonstrations. The legislation specifically requested that the study utilize arrest data, public and officer injury data, type of injury reports, fatality numbers, officer deployment data, tactical and type of weaponry used, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) terrorist watchlist data to determine if and how MPD responses varied. The Institute’s team worked to gain access to and review all available data regarding MPD responses to first amendment demonstrations to determine if bias played a role in MPD threat assessments from January 2017 – January 2021, and to provide recommendations for mitigating bias in the threat assessment process and producing a report that captures the information.

Arlington, VA: National Policing Institute, 2022. 63p.