Police union chief ordered to turn in badge
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
July 17, 2009
 |
| Kristopher Baumann |
The District police department has pulled the badge and gun of police union chief Kristopher Baumann while in the midst of a labor-management struggle, saying the Fraternal Order of Police head failed to complete annual mandatory training, officials confirmed to The Examiner.
Baumann was informed that his police powers had been taken away Monday, less than 48 hours after a federal judge denied his motion to stop an internal police investigation.
Late last month, Baumann was hauled in for questioning regarding the release of recorded transmissions between top police brass and officers on the scene of a barricade situation. Police officials had declared the tapes confidential, and they started an investigation after The Examiner made inquiries about them.
Baumann claimed protection under the First Amendment and the District's Whistle Blower Act in his request to halt the investigation, but the judge didn't agree and on Saturday allowed the department to move forward.
"They're coming after me," Baumann said. He linked the decision to revoke his police powers to a series of lawsuits and complaints he's filed against the department.
District Attorney General Peter Nickles called Baumann's accusations "baloney" and said he was being treated like any member of the force.
"It's mandatory training, it's not wishes and desires," Nickles said. "The problem with Baumann is he wants to be treated differently. But he's going to be treated like any other officer."
Police spokeswoman Traci Hughes said, "Officer Baumann was treated as any other officer who failed to complete the training." She could not say which training he missed or whether any other officers lost their badges and guns for missing that training.
Baumann said he did attend the training approved for his job in 2008.
Baumann has been a vocal critic of D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Adrian Fenty. The tense relationship deteriorated two years ago when Fenty seemed to have been taking sides against two police officers who shot and killed 14-year-old DeOnte Rawlings during a gunfight.
Rank-and-file officers are still miffed that Fenty paid for Rawlings' funeral and let his family take over a law enforcement news conference in which the teen's sisters accused the police officers of a cover-up.
The union vocally spoke out about the administration's barricade of the Trinidad neighborhood, requiring citizens to provide identification before entering. A judge last week ruled that the barricades were unconstitutional.
The union has decried Lanier's "All Hands on Deck" strategy, which pulls all sworn police officers from their regular duties to serve arrest warrants, write traffic enforcements and listen to residents' concerns. Critics complain that the 48-hour blitz is a publicity stunt that does little to stop crime.
