to be an "open-air drug market", activists and D.C. Council members criticized what they called illegal and aggressive searches by officers. In response, Newsham asserted that Council members had emboldened the drug dealers by suggesting that police had acted inappropriately. Community activists called the assertion shocking. In September 2019, data released by MPD pursuant to a court order found significant disparities among stops by officers. African Americans accounted for 70% of all police stops while D.C. is 47% African American. Newsham disputed whether the data, taken over a four week period, was representative. By October 2019, homicides had increased 11 percent from the same time in 2018, which rose 40 percent from the previous year. 2019 had the highest number of homicides in a decade and the trend continued into 2020. To fight the rise, Newsham authorized overtime pay for officer patrol. Newsham was inadvertently caught on camera saying that he thought homicides would continue unabated. In January 2020, Newsham announced that D.C. police will no longer handcuff children under 12, except as needed to protect the child or the public from danger. In a March 2020 D.C. Council meeting, Newsham confirmed that the MPD was conducting multiple internal investigations into crime underreporting, but assured the council that "when we report out on crime statistics, we do it as accurately as we can". As he had in his previous roles, Newsham also addressed gun violence as Chief of Police. In October 2019, he "expressed frustration that more isn’t being done to deal with repeat gun offenders". In February 2020, he noted that detectives were working with federal agencies to investigate the origins of untraceable homemade ghost guns. Newsham joined the mayor and other officials in saying that "action was necessary to stop the flow of ghost guns into the city". In March 2020, Newsham praised incoming U.S. Attorney Tim Shea for the latter's agreement to aggressively pursue gun violence and gun crimes by repeat violent offenders. Following George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C. in May and June 2020, Newsham objected to some reforms introduced by the D.C. Council, while supporting others. The Council sought to bring greater accountability, limit the use of force against unarmed civilians, and make it easier to fire officers, among other reforms. In particular, Newsham objected to provisions regarding the release of body-camera footage, which historically had generally not been released. Newsham said police officers "feel