As police departments and law enforcement have come under more recent scrutiny over the use of force, D.C. police have been vocal about keeping a fully-staffed department.
Metropolitan Police Department tweeted that over the last two years, the District has "averaged almost two assemblies a day."
The department says that in order to "safeguard the daily First Amendment assemblies in the city," it needs to be fully-staffed.
"This is clear, now more than ever," the department ended its tweet with.
This year, amid calls to defund the police in the wake of George Floyd's killing, more than 500 people signed up for the D.C. council committee's hearing on the police budget.
ABC7 On Your Side team found that some activists marching in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police wanted to defund police and give tax dollars to community projects and agencies, such as social and youth services.
The group Black Lives Matter D.C., believes police and prisons as we know them should be abolished.
It has created a website with its demands, including but not limited to abandoning any plans to build a jail and diverting funds from the police department into violence interrupter programs, services for D.C. schools, public housing repairs and other community services.