Inundated with demands for a tougher public safety presence as crime takes a startling upturn, the D.C. Council on Tuesday night agreed to spend $31.5 million over two years to hire 350 new police officers, who would be immediately assigned to street patrol.
In the past three months, the council has voted to add 450 new officers to the 3,800-member force. The budget amendment adopted Tuesday would only kick in if surplus revenue is available.
“I want to be able to walk out tonight and say I tried to add 350 police officers, and I want to be able to say we did it,” said Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans, who represents Georgetown and Shaw, the locations of two recent high-profile murders.
But adding new officers is easier said than done. Between attrition, recruiting and academy capacity, police Chief Charles Ramsey said Wednesday, the department is limited to hiring about 100 new officers in a year — which the council had already agreed to do.
“With that figure we felt pretty confident we could probably do that between a year and a year and a half,” Ramsey said. “Now 350 is a considerable amount more, but if that is ultimately approved then we’ll have to put together a plan for the mayor’s approval.”
The council supported Evans’ proposal 12-1, with Council Member Kathy Patterson casting the only vote in opposition. Council Member Phil Mendelson, facing a tough re-election battle, voted for the new officers only after calling the proposal “politically popular” but “meaningless.”
“This proposal is foolish,” he said. “It sounds good. It ties up money. It will get us nothing.”
D.C. crime stats vs. 2005
» Homicides up 2.1 percent
» Robberies up 15.3 percent
» Sexual assaults up 7.7 percent
» Burglary up 4 percent
» Theft from cars up 8.5 percent
