WASHINGTON — Police body cameras and a new transportation system were two of the topics discussed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in her first State of the District Address Tuesday night at the Lincoln Theatre.
A six-month pilot program that started last year allowing some D.C. police officers to test body cameras was a success, so the cameras will stick around.
“We will expand the use of body cameras to all MPD patrol officers in the next 18 months,” the mayor said.
She added that the number of police officers on the streets will increase this year. “By making sure that more officers are retained, and that the maximum number of officers are out on the streets, not doing desk jobs.”
Bowser’s speech also touched on transportation. “I promise you that we will get the streetcar along H Street and Benning Road up and running,” she said, adding that the streetcar will then be extended to Union Station and eventually to Georgetown.
Bowser also spoke about the troubled homeless shelter where missing child Relisha Rudd once lived: “We will, with your support, close D.C. General once and for all.”
Bowser issued an executive order Tuesday banning city employees from taking District-funded trips to Indiana because of the passage of the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“We won’t stand by while other cities discriminate against the LGBTQ community,” she said.
The full address as prepared for delivery is here.
