Months before District of Columbia police Chief Cathy Lanier demoted a commander from a Southeast Washington district, the police union filed a grievance against him for approving inadequate staffing levels and endangering officers, according to internal documents The Examiner has obtained.
The revelation comes days after former Sixth District Cmdr. Robin Hoey filed a federal lawsuit against Lanier and Mayor Adrian Fenty, in which he alleges they acted with “evil motive” by demoting him to captain and reassigning him to the central cell block.
Earlier this month, residents upset about Hoey’s demotion demonstrated outside the Sixth District station on 42nd Street Northeast and peppered Lanier with questions about Hoey’s demotion.
The April 2006 grievance against Hoey shows that the rank and file had been unhappy with Hoey long before Fenty and Lanier took their new leadership roles.
In the grievance, the union complained that Hoey cited “a manpower shortage” and forced officers to work overtime, while at the same time he testified to the D.C. Council that extra resources were not needed.
D.C. police union Chairman Kristopher Baumann said Hoey emphasized public relations over public safety. The Sixth District was 25 percent understaffed, often with radio backlogs of 20 runs.
“There were no police offers in 6D, and he wasn’t doing anything about it,” Baumann said. “It was all smoke and mirrors.”
Lanier has not explained why she demoted Hoey except to say that she has the right to appoint her own team. She released a statement saying that changing the Sixth District’s command was best for the city.
Baumann said Lanier didn’t cite the lack of manpower in the district as a reason for Hoey’s removal because she still won’t accept that the previous administration, led by her mentor Chief Charles Ramsey, wasn’t doing its job.
