The D.C. Council voted this year to increase the 3,800-member police force by 450 officers, but Mayor Anthony Williams said Tuesday that might not be enough.
“I think it may be north of the number that’s currently on the books,” Williams said. “We might have to go back up to the 5,100 we had before. We’re a state police; we’re a county police. We have federal responsibilities, and we’re in an urban city with a lot of responsibilities as well.”
The city is in the midst of a crime emergency, declared July 11 by police Chief Charles Ramsey. By allocating $8 million of emergency overtime funding, the D.C. Council last week added another 300 officers who will be on the beat immediately.
District police spent $30 million for overtime in 2005, according to an Examiner review.
A 5,100-member force is a thing of the distant past, when more than 800,000 people called D.C. home. The city’s population today, according to the U.S. Census, is closer to 580,000, and crime is down significantly since the crack epidemic of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Even if the council were to support a major recruitment effort, hiring new police officers takes time.
Ramsey has said the department can add about 100 a year.
Under a city law that took effect in 2004, all officers are required to have accumulated 60 semester hours, or roughly two years, of college credit before joining the force. Council Chair Linda Cropp said Tuesday it might be time to rethink the strict standards,which have forced the District to turn to other cities, including Detroit and New York, for recruitment.
“I think we need to look at the requirements and make sure there’s nothing that’s being detrimental and keeping us from being able to hire good, efficient and effective police officers,” Cropp said.
Force protection
» 3,800 MPD officers is 652 per 100,000 D.C. residents
» 4,250 officers is 730 per 100,000 residents
» 5,100 officers is 876 per 100,000 residents
