D.C. Mayor Vince Gray said Wednesday that he has found the cash needed to add officers to the city’s police department. The $10.8 million will add an extra 100 officers to the force next year and comes from $100 million in additional revenue the city’s chief financial officer says he expects the District will raise before the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 31.
D.C. currently has about 3,850 police officers, but is losing around 15 a month to attrition. Chief Cathy Lanier says if the force slips below 3,800 it will mean “trouble” for the city. The new dollars, combined with spending already planned for next fiscal year, is expected to get the department to 3,900 officers by September 2012.
“If it’s what it appears, the mayor has found a solution that meets a public safety need that everybody deemed was a priority,” said at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, who heads the council’s public safety committee.
Police union chief Kris Baumann said it’s not enough. “Normal attrition is already taking a huge toll and 1,000 police officers are going to be eligible to retire by 2015,” he said.” Mayor Gray is not doing anything to address the problem.”
Also on Wednesday, Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans said he wants D.C. Lottery to slow down its implementation of Internet games. The District is on pace to be the first jurisdiction nationally to take advantage of new federal regulations that D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan said legally allow people inside city limits to gamble.
During a council hearing on the plans, lottery officials said by Sept. 8 they plan to have “hot spots” in restaurants and hotels around the city where anyone over age 19 with a debit card will be able to log on to a lottery controlled web site to play poker, black jack and games similar to slots.
Evans said that wasn’t enough time to float the locations past community groups that might be upset to hear a hot spot is coming to their neighborhood because the groups don’t meet in the summer. If the board doesn’t slow down the process on its own, Evans said he’ll consider introducing legislation next month to force them to.
