Local
Assistant police chief named to head academy
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
November 12, 2008
 |
| D.C. Police Assistant Chief Winston Robinson has been appointed the head of the department’s training academy. (Andrew Harnik/Examiner ) |
Now his boss, Chief Cathy Lanier, wants him to train D.C.’s finest. In a memo Friday obtained by The Examiner, she appointed Robinson as top officer for the department’s academy.
In 1985, Robinson tried to flee D.C. police after a car crash. Officers at the scene said Robinson struggled with them and then gave a false name.
In 2004, the police union accused Robinson of falsifying crime figures in the dangerous 7th District. An inspector general’s report on the allegations said there had been unintentional errors and blamed the mishap on an underling.
Last year, Robinson was questioned by internal investigators for his consulting contract with a Guyanese security firm.
His record and his new assignment have raised some eyebrows at city hall.
“If these accounts are true, it sounds like the guy we’re putting in charge of training could use a bit of training himself,” said Councilwoman Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3.
Robinson replaces former Deputy Chief Joshua Ederheimer, who was demoted on Oct. 26.
More than 30 officers are being jostled in the latest round of departmental musical chairs – the second shake-up in three weeks.
Lanier didn’t respond to requests for comment. But she has vouched for Robinson, whom she calls, “Winnie.”
“I have an awful lot of respect for Winston Robinson, I have an awful lot of respect for Winston Robinson, as do a lot of other folks,” she told The Examiner in a September 2007 interview.
Lanier promised to reinvigorate the police department after taking over nearly two years ago. But she has struggled against stubborn crime. She has shuffled her command staff almost half a dozen times in her short reign.
