It’s going to be a long two years for Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
I’m not talking about the potential that crime rates might rise or terrorists might attack or that she will have to endure more scrutiny during the coming mayoral election.
The poor chief has two more years of Kris Baumann — in her face, in her roll calls, in her deployment plans. Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police, won another two-year term Wednesday. According to preliminary vote counts, 1,800 officers cast ballots. Baumann and his slate got just over 1,000 votes; two other slates split the rest.
The verdict by the rank-and-file cops is bad news for both the chief and Mayor Adrian Fenty. Baumann is one of the few leaders in the city who has consistently challenged Fenty and Lanier, taken them to court, won, and kept up the criticism. His win is good for the city. Cops are our front line against bad guys — whether we are stumbling drunk down Georgetown or trying to catch a bus on Benning Road. Cops need a strong voice and someone who has their backs.
“This election is a sign that even when they put the apparatus of government against you,” Baumann says, “these guys can still be beaten.”
Baumann believes the Metropolitan Police Department did all it could to make him look bad and bump up his opponents. He has a point.
According to my sources, at least one official from the chief’s top command put out calls to dissuade retired cops from endorsing Baumann. That’s dirty.
In the final days before the vote, fliers attacking Baumann started showing up in secure areas of police district offices — and Lanier’s floor in the downtown headquarters. Fliers supporting Lanier’s candidate stayed on the walls, while Baumann’s kept disappearing.
You might pin this on nasty opponents were it not for the fact that Lt. Ronald Netter, a Lanier ally, was caught taking down Baumann’s fliers. Then, in the midst of the campaign, the department’s lawyers asked for the personnel file of Delroy Burton, the union’s executive steward. He’s the union official who protested Netter’s shenanigans. Was it happenstance or harassment?
Now that Baumann is in for another two years, what can we expect?
“We have to reform the police department,” Baumann says. “We cannot afford to keep losing 1,000 officers every four years. Morale is awful.”
The city could start by negotiating a new contract with the cops. The last one expired two years ago. The city’s most recent offer included no raises for seven years. Why would Chief Lanier not want to reward cops who she claims have reduced homicides to record lows?
Let’s at least have a kumbaya moment. Consider how much safer we would be if Lanier and Baumann could quit their constant beefing?
Baumann says he requests meetings at least twice a month and gets no response.
For the city’s good, it’s time for a truce.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
