Every officer in the Metropolitan Police Department will be working foot patrols this weekend in the District’s fourth All Hands on Deck deployment of the year.
Chief Cathy Lanier has said that the program — which runs from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Sunday — reassures worried neighbors and cracks down on crime.
On Friday afternoon, Mayor Adrian Fenty praised the program for its effectiveness, citing 491 arrests made, 13 firearms seized, and more than $40,000 in drugs confiscated during the last All Hands on Deck event in late June.
Critics say the program is more about public relations than public safety.
Police union chairman Kris Baumann said if it was important enough to have thousands of officers on the streets once in a while, it ought to be important enough to hire cops to “have All Hands on Deck every day.”
Police short staffing in the days following All Hands on Deck events is another concern. On Halloween 2007, violence spiked in the District. But there weren’t enough officers to answer calls because an All Hands on Deck the previous weekend had given officers the right to take Halloween off.
Lanier said Friday that short-staffing “should never be an issue” because there are “four separate sets of days off spread out amongst the department.”
Many District residents feel it is going to take a lot more than 48 hours of police flooding the streets to eradicate crime.
Friday’s news conference was on the spot of a June 25 homicide. Bevelyn Murray watched from her apartment near Columbia Heights as 20-year-old Dewayne Coles was shot to death.
She said Friday that her neighborhood needs things like surveillance cameras in buildings and help from the housing authority, not more police officers on the streets.
“My grandkids are scared to go outside,” she said. “I don’t want to live like this.”
Lanier called on Washington residents to take an active role this weekend in the crime reduction effort, which she said should be a partnership between officers and residents.
“I want ask people to come forward and talk about what you know is going on in your neighborhood,” she said.
The police department offers thousands of dollars in rewards to anyone who provides information that leads to arrests and convictions of criminals. Tipsters can remain anonymous and call 202-727-9099 or 1-888-919-2746, or text 50411.
