You had to wait hours into Friday’s Judiciary Committee hearing to hear Police Chief Cathy Lanier’s bomblet. The number of sworn officers in the nation’s capital stands at 3,875, the numbers are heading south at a rate of 15 a month, and the department has quit hiring. If and when we reach 3,800, Lanier testified, we could be in trouble,
“How did we get here?” Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson asked.
With all due respect to the chairman, who I have come to admire more and more as he begins to tighten his grip on crime-fighting tools, he has not been paying attention to my screaming columns for the past two years. Seasoned cops are leaving the force, young street cops are frustrated by the department’s punitive disciplinary system, retirees can’t wait to flee. The result is a thin blue line that is beginning to break as the city approaches another crime season of heat and hostility.
“Cutting my budget,” Lanier responded.
Numbers don’t lie. Former Mayor Adrian Fenty balanced his budget on the backs of the cops when he couldn’t borrow or dip into reserves. The city council, including Mendelson, was complicit in reducing funds for law enforcement.
Lanier has dealt with the falling funds by cutting training and recruitment. Do the math: The department loses an average of 15 cops a month, through attrition and retirement; by Lanier’s count, we run into trouble at 3,800, and the city becomes less safe. That means we can expect to see a crime wave in about five months, which puts us in August.
At the hearing, Lanier told Mendelson she might have enough money to recruit 30 new officers in August. “Might” is the operative word. Given the rising crime rates, that might not suffice.
According to the department’s latest numbers, homicides are up 18 percent so far this year compared to 2010. We hit number 20 when Gary Gordon, a senior at Anacostia High, was shot dead Sunday afternoon. Burglary is up 23 percent, theft up 25 percent, and theft from cars up 20 percent.
Robbery with a gun is down 20 percent, to 200. And that’s supposed to make us feel safe?
That’s the bottom line. Do we feel safe? At what cost?
“We have a choice,” says police union boss Kristopher Baumann. “We can use taxpayer money to keep residents safe, or we can continue to fund giant bureaucracies in agencies that produce little, if any, widespread public benefit.”
That’s easy to say, at a time of shrinking revenues and rising deficits. But sometimes the choices do come down to basics: The government has a fundamental duty to provide public education, public health and public safety. And pick up the trash. And keep the streets clear.
And that’s it.
At Friday’s hearing, Mendelson asked Lanier what she needed. She promised to get back to him. How about we start by adding $60 million, which includes the amount cut from the cops and adds enough to hire enough officers to keep us safe?
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
