The Mayor of the District of Columbia is also hereby authorized and empowered to create one or more trial board or boards, to be composed of such number of persons as said Mayor may appoint thereto, for the trial of officers and members of said police force; and the Council of the District of Columbia is hereby authorized and empowered to make and amend rules of procedure before such trial board or boards as it deems proper and the Mayor is hereby authorized and empowered to change or abolish any such trial board or boards as he may deem proper; and the findings of such trial board or boards shall be final and conclusive unless appeal in writing therefrom is made within 5 days to the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the hearings on appeal to be submitted either orally or in writing, and the decision of the said Mayor thereon shall be final and conclusive; provided, that said Mayor shall not be required, in his review of the sentences and findings of such trial board or boards, to take evidence, either oral, written, or documentary, and he shall have power to reduce or modify the findings and penalty of the trial board or boards or remand any case against any officer or member of said police force to such board or boards for such further proceedings as he may deem necessary; provided, that the chairman for the time being of any and every trial board be, and he is hereby, authorized to administer oaths to and take affirmations of witnesses before such board or boards; and provided, that the rules and regulations of said Metropolitan Police force promulgated and in force on July 8, 1906, are hereby ratified and shall remain in force until changed, altered, amended, or abolished by said Council.

(Feb. 28, 1901, 31 Stat. 819, ch. 623, § 1; June 8, 1906, 34 Stat. 222, ch. 3056.)

1981 Ed., § 4-118.

1973 Ed., § 4-122.

This section is referenced in § 1-632.03 and § 5-1114.

Merit system, application to police officers and firefighters, see § 1-632.03.

Boards established: Reorganization Order No. 48 of the Board of Commissioners, dated June 26, 1953, established in the government of the District of Columbia a Regular Police Trial Board, a Special Police Trial Board, and a Complaint Review Board to operate in accordance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations. The Order set forth the purpose, manner of selection of members, and the functions of the Boards, and abolished the previously existing Police Trial and Review Boards. This Order was issued pursuant to Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1952.

Delegation of Authority—Secretary of the District of Columbia, see Mayor’s Order 95-26, January 27, 1995.

Delegation of Authority—Office of the Secretary, see Mayor’s Order 97-87, May 6, 1997 ( 44 DCR 2958).

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 402(94) and (95) of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to the District of Columbia Council, subject to the right of the Commissioner as provided in § 406 of the Plan. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.