Feds must find missing evidence in Pershing Park case

Here’s something you don’t see every day: D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department has asked the FBI to investigate it. In a recent filing in federal court, D.C. cops asked the feds to find out who might have scrubbed email and other electronic records of information about former Police Chief Charles Ramsey’s involvement in the 2002 Pershing Park mass arrests.

Stick with me for a minute, and I will explain how these missing records call into question whether we can trust our police department to protect evidence crucial to criminal investigations. Pull this string, and you might find yourself asking whether lawyers who are supposed to oversee how cops investigate crimes have themselves committed illegal acts.