The union representing District police said Wednesday that officers are being pulled from neighborhood patrols and reassigned to monitor the Occupy DC protests and that crime has increased in the city since the Occupiers arrived three months ago. The Fraternal Order of Police’s Metropolitan Police Department Labor Committee wrote to Mayor Vincent Gray Wednesday demanding that he correct statements he’s made about the Occupy movement, specifically that he “wasn’t sure” crime was up in the District and that he “didn’t know of a situation” where a neighborhood had been neglected during Occupy protests. Gray made the statements during a Dec. 15 interview with NewsChannel 8.
The union contends that violent crime increased by 17 percent in the District and overall crime by 14 percent in the 30 days prior to Dec. 15. The union also attached to its letter to Gray a series of “deployment accountability logs,” which show that officers from other districts or shifts were redeployed to McPherson Square to deal with the Occupiers.
It’s not clear whether the increase in crime in the District can be attributed to Occupy DC. But union Chairman Kris Baumann says he believes the mayor has downplayed rising crime rates.
“We know that if there’s no police officers on the street, crime increases. What we haven’t done is been honest with the public – this is a problem,” he said. “I don’t want to blame First Amendment protesters for poor decisions that were made by local officials. But we’ve now reached a level that the crime rates are increasing.”
Gray’s spokeswoman, Doxie McCoy, said the mayor’s office is reviewing the union’s 40-page letter.
Baumann says police want local officials to explain how they plan to move forward with the Occupy protest, which is entering its fourth month with no end in sight.
Dozens of protesters were arrested Dec. 7 after shutting down busy downtown streets during rush hour and last week a protester was charged with assaulting a U.S. Park Police.
“Sort of allowing this to go on endlessly and having occasional bouts of violence – it’s not acceptable for residents. We need clear parameters on what we’re going to do,” Baumann said.
Still, it doesn’t appear Occupy is going anywhere soon. Protesters at the Freedom Plaza Occupy camp say they expect to have their permit to stay in the park extended for two more months, until March, and Occupiers in McPherson Square are planning a large-scale protest at the Capitol on Jan. 17.
Protester Sam Jewler, a member of Occupy DC’s media team, said he thinks budget cuts and salary freezes are bigger problems for the local police than Occupy and added that Occupy is “trying to be on [the union’s] side.”
“I understand that we may be putting a strain on them at times, but the system is putting a strain on a lot of people around this country,” he said. “I think that there are a lot of issues at play, but it doesn’t make much sense to pin it on us.”
