D.C. Council members would appear to back a study to decide, once and for all, just how many officers should be manning the Metropolitan Police Department.
In the midst of a crime emergency, city leaders are tossing around revised force numbers — proposing to add anywhere from 100 to 800 new officers. But no one, from Mayor Anthony Williams on down, can say exactly how many officers the department actually needs.
“I’ve been talking with Council Chair [Linda] Cropp and [Chief Charles Ramsey] about how we really do a methodical analysis of deployment,” the mayor said last week. “Not to point any fingers, but to look at what the number ought to be and then really start vetting that as a priority for the city.”
Vince Morris, Williams’ spokesman, said the decision on such an analysis “will be made by the next mayor and the council.”
The District government pledged to hire 450 new police officers this year. Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham, a longtime proponent of a larger department, said he would back a study so long as the council doesn’t back off that pledge.
“I think all of us have reached a point of frustration,” Graham said. “We don’t want any more studies. We want to see more police officers.”
A few council members have tried to augment the 3,800-member force in recent years. Only recently, when crime ticked up and an election approached, did a majority buy in.
Graham and Ward 4 Council Member Adrian Fenty last year co-introduced legislation to hire 500 new officers. Ward 5 Council Member Vincent Orange sought to increase the force by 1,600 officers, then switched to 400. The measures went nowhere — until this year’s budget debate and the recent crime emergency.
Council Member Phil Mendelson, chair of the judiciary committee, said a study would be worthwhile. But the analysis, he said, must look at how the department actually polices the streets.
“If it’s done in a way that’s useful, then yes,” Mendelson said. “Otherwise we just get another set of numbers.”
Vincent Orange says …
» 2,100 of 3,800 officers are available for street work
» Divide that by seven police districts and three shifts
» 100 officers per district on the street at any one time
