DC's Permanent Police Reform Law: What It Changes for Civil Cases — and What It Doesn't
Late last month, on April 21, 2023, the District's most significant police-reform legislation in a generation became permanent law. The Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 (D.C. Law 24-345) locks in reforms the Council first enacted on an emergency basis in the summer of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd. It is an important law, and people hurt by police misconduct deserve a straight answer about what it means for them — including the parts that reform headlines tend to skip.
What the law does
D.C. Law 24-345 is a broad package. Its provisions most relevant to people injured in police encounters:
- Bans chokeholds and other asphyxiating restraints. Neck restraints and techniques that restrict breathing or blood flow are prohibited.
- Tightens the deadly-force standard. Deadly force is permitted only when it is immediately necessary to prevent a serious threat, and only after other options have been exhausted or are unavailable. Whether an officer's conduct leading up to the moment of force — including de-escalation efforts, or their absence — was reasonable is evaluated under the totality of the circumstances.
- Requires body-worn camera disclosure in serious use-of-force cases. Footage of officer-involved deaths and serious uses of force must be released, with names of the officers involved.
- Strengthens oversight. The law expands the authority of the Office of Police Complaints and restructures the Use of Force Review Board, adding civilian membership.
What the law does not do — an honest accounting
Here is what a careful reader will not find in D.C. Law 24-345:
| What people assume | What the law actually provides |
|---|---|
| "I can sue under the new law" | The law does not create a general private right of action — its enforcement mechanisms are administrative and criminal |
| "Qualified immunity is gone in DC" | The law does not abolish or modify qualified immunity for federal § 1983 claims |
| "Damages are now easier to get" | The law creates no new damages remedy; civil recovery still travels through existing tort and civil-rights claims |
If you were hurt by police misconduct in the District, your lawsuit still rests on the same legal foundations as before: federal constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and District common-law claims like assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, and negligence — including respondeat superior claims against the District itself, of the kind the Court of Appeals allowed to proceed in Blair v. District of Columbia, 190 A.3d 212 (D.C. 2018), where an off-duty officer invoked police authority before injuring the plaintiff.
Why the law still matters for civil cases
Saying the law creates no new claim is not saying it changes nothing. In our judgment, three features of D.C. Law 24-345 will do real work in civil litigation:
1. A codified standard of care. The use-of-force and de-escalation standards are now written law, not just MPD general orders. When an officer uses deadly force without exhausting alternatives, plaintiffs can point to the statute as the District's own definition of acceptable police conduct — powerful evidence of the standard of care in a negligence case, and strong material for cross-examination in any case. 2. A negligence per se argument. Where a statute designed to protect a class of people is violated and causes the kind of harm it was meant to prevent, DC law permits the violation to be treated as evidence of negligence. Expect plaintiffs to argue that violations of the chokehold ban and deadly-force limits fit that framework. Courts have not yet passed on the argument — but it is now available. 3. Early access to the footage. Mandatory body-camera disclosure in serious force cases means families no longer wait years, or litigate FOIA suits, to see what happened. Early access to footage changes case evaluation, preservation, and the credibility contest that police cases so often become.
What this means for injured people in the District of Columbia
The reform law arms civil cases; it does not replace them. If you or a family member was hurt by police violence, the practical path is unchanged and urgent: preserve everything (photographs of injuries, medical records, witness names), request the body-camera footage promptly, and get counsel involved early — constitutional claims, common-law claims, and notice requirements each carry their own deadlines and traps. What has changed is the yardstick: the District has now written into law what acceptable force looks like, and officers who fall short of it can be measured against their own government's standard, in front of a jury.
If you or a loved one has been hurt, call Posey Lebowitz at (202) 524-0123 or send us a message for a free consultation.
Part of our DMV case law archive, compiled in 2026 to reflect the archive of some of the most important decisions in injury law.
Update: The congressional disapproval resolution pending when this post was written — H.J. Res. 42 — was vetoed by President Biden on May 25, 2023, and D.C. Law 24-345 remains in effect.