Washington mandates police museum visits to improve race relations

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has made it mandatory for all 3,800 officers of the Metropolitan Police Department to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture as part of their training. The initiative aims to ease tensions between law enforcement and the predominantly African American population. The program, developed in partnership with the museum, includes a three-hour class on ethnic relations and police, followed by a guided tour of the museum. New recruits and current officers must complete the training within a year. Commander Ralph Ennis stated that 650 officers have already been trained. The decision comes amid rising racial violence and disparities, particularly in areas like Anacostia, a predominantly African American neighborhood with high poverty and crime rates. Similar programs exist in Chicago at the DuSable Museum of African American History and the Holocaust Museum. Despite such efforts, Mapping Police Violence recorded 1,147 police killings in 2017, with African Americans comprising 25% of victims despite being 13% of the population.