Lawsuit questions DC police policy of arrests for disorderly conduct

From [HERE] WASHINGTON — Washington police routinely arrested people who talked back to them, improperly charging citizens with disorderly conduct, a lawsuit in federal court contends.

The lawsuit revolves around the 2005 arrest of a woman who cursed at police outside a 7-Eleven. But the case, which continues Monday for the second week before a jury, goes beyond one person to what lawyers say were broader problems. The city's American Civil Liberties Union chapter is involved in the case, and ACLU legal director Arthur Spitzer says his group hopes to use a victory in case to ensure police are more careful about future disorderly conduct arrests.

"We think it's happening still today, and we're concerned," Spitzer said, explaining that just cursing at an officer isn't grounds for arrest and officers are supposed to have a thick skin.

The city updated its law on disorderly conduct arrests late last year to make it more specific and clear. Since then, the city's some 3,900 officers have taken classroom and online training on the new law.

Lawyers for the city, meanwhile, deny there was ever a systematic problem with police disorderly conduct arrests and say Lindsay Huthnance's 2005 arrest was justified. One police officer who was part of the arrest testified Friday that Huthnance was cursing so loudly at police that people started to gather to watch her. The officer said he repeatedly tried to get Huthnance to quiet down and leave before arresting her.

The lawsuit isn't the first time Washington police have been criticized over disorderly conduct arrests, however, which include things like nighttime shouting that wakes the neighborhood. In 2003, a report by a board that oversees citizens' complaints found Washington had an unusually high disorderly conduct arrest rate, five to eight times more than other large cities.

The report recommended increased training and a review of the disorderly conduct law, but police hadn't done that by the time Huthnance was arrested, her lawyers said. They argue poor training and supervision of disorderly conduct arrests led police to wrongfully detain her.

In particular, the lawsuit and report single out a practice, unique to Washington, where citizens arrested for disorderly conduct are allowed to pay a $25 fine and be released. Arrests that were resolved through the fine, like Huthnance's, got little or no review, however, and that created a potential for problems, the report concluded.

Timothy Longo, who testified last week as an expert witness for the prosecution and reviewed a series of disorderly conduct arrests in Washington, told the jury he believed Huthnance was improperly arrested and that city police had a practice of improperly arresting citizens who were rude to officers. Longo, the current chief of police in Charlottesville, Va., said Washington police should have been on notice of an issue with disorderly conduct arrests and made changes immediately following the 2003 report.

"It was a warning sign that should have been paid attention to," he said.

An expert for the city is expected to testify and counter Longo's statements.