CJP has undertaken a broad campaign of using open records laws to pry open data and records pertaining to the collection and distribution of gang affiliation data in D.C., throughout the state of Maryland, and on the federal level.

Gang databases are over-inclusive, inaccurate, and disparate in impact. Entry into these gang databases does not require any evidence of criminality or suspicion of wrongdoing. Through the use of these databases, justice agencies secretly keep eyes on Black and Brown individuals and communities.

The use of this type of data has been under the radar for far too long, allowing its collection and distribution to grow unchecked by both policymakers and the very communities for whom residents are most impacted by these practices. Our efforts seek to challenge these practices by exposing them in order to empower communities to have a voice about how this data is collected and distributed. We believe by empowering communities we will also be forcing policymakers to step up and strongly regulate these practices.

This page will serve as a hub for all of our work on these issues in these jurisdictions.

We have already filed open records / freedom of information act requests with numerous justice agencies as part of this project. You can access those requests and all the records related to each request below. Where we have already entered the litigation stage, you’ll also find links to our litigation trackers.

We are being represented in our litigation efforts by the lawyers at the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

Requests:

District of Columbia

Metropolitan Police Department

FOIA Request & Correspondance

Lawsuit Complaint & Press Release

Litigation Tracker

Maryland

Prince George’s County Police Department (Maryland)

Montgomery County Police Department (Maryland)

Baltimore Police Department (Maryland)

Maryland State Police

Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services

Maryland Coordinated Analysis Center – Fusion Center

Federal Level

Office of National Drug Control Policy

Baltimore / Washington High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives

Drug Enforcement Agency