Relations between D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier and the union representing rank-and-file officers have deteriorated over charges that internal investigators tried to force their way into a wounded officer’s hospital room, critics said Monday.
Ivory Smith was wounded after her gun discharged as she tried to arrest three suspects in a gas station robbery. While she was awaiting surgery, investigators demanded she give a taped statement, her union steward, Officer Timothy Finnegan, told The Examiner.
“She was in there with a hole in her foot, shot up with morphine and they were trying to take a statement from her,” Finnegan said. “It was pretty poor, I thought.”
The confrontation escalated until the union called in labor lawyer Robert Ades, Finnegan said.
For some, the incident is another example of the souring relations between the chief and line officers — a relationship for which many had high hopes.
“Deteriorating? They’re down the drain,” said Ted J. Williams, a former police officer who now represents officers in labor disputes with the department. “Chief Lanier … has really no sense of direction.”
Some working officers were worried about Lanier from the beginning because she was a protege of former chief Charles H. Ramsey, whom the rank and file had come to view bitterly. Through a spokeswoman, Lanier declined to comment for this story.
But the new chief won over many skeptics when she encouraged officers to post their worries on internal Internet message boards and took their recommendations seriously. For instance, at the urging of one anonymous officer, Lanier revived white shirts for ranking officers, but asked the department to phase them in slowly so high-ranking officers weren’t forced to rush out and buy new uniforms.
In the months since, though, much of Lanier’s goodwill has gone badly to seed from what some officers call publicity stunts such as the “All Hands on Deck” initiatives. And many officers are still seething at the way Lanier handled the shooting of 14-year-old DeOnte Rawlings at the hands of two off-duty officers. Rather than ask for patience from the public, Lanier made a spectacle of handing theinvestigation over to federal authorities, undermining her officers, some critics say.
“They are completely consumed with public relations,” said Kristopher K. Baumann, chairman of the police union.
