D.C. police Chief Charles H. Ramsey has extended the city’s crime emergency indefinitely, citing a slight drop in violent crime and the alleged bomb plot uncovered in Britain.
Ramsey declared the emergency, which tossed thousands of officers back onto the street and extended their work week to six days, last month after a string of homicides, including that of a Georgetown man whose throat was slashed in a mugging.
Critics of the department have been drowned out by the publicity surrounding the spike in crime, but they continue to insist that the department had no right to be surprised by summer’s rising crime. It’s the fourth emergency in eight years.
Kristopher K. Baumann is chair of the police union. He said the crime emergency is a public-relations stunt that is wearing out the rank-and-file.
“Most of these officers are out there doing safety compliance checkpoints on their extra day, which means they’re out there writing tickets,” Baumann said. “And that’s not an effective long-term plan.”
Ramsey’s spokesman, Kevin Morison, said the chief “recognizes” the officers’ sacrifices “and applauds their efforts.” But the crime emergency stays “until further notice.”
“People can — and will — argue about the effectiveness, but we’ve clearly stemmed the spike in some violent crimes such as homicide,” Morison wrote in an e-mail to The Examiner.
Whatever the effectiveness of the crime emergency, law enforcement agencies in D.C. have promised to hold a crime summit by the end of the month to discuss long-term plans for fighting crime in the District.
