We don’t often agree with D.C. Councilman Marion Barry, but he was right on the money when he demanded scrutiny of the Metropolitan Police Department’s top-heavy compensation policy. “It should be going to the officers on the street,” Barry said. He’s right. Police Chief Cathy Lanier testified that she is losing 15 veteran police officers a month, and a hiring freeze has brought the force perilously close to dipping below 3,800 – at which point the balance shifts to the criminals’ side of the ledger. Lanier blames previous budget cuts for the current predicament, but she is part of the problem. As The Examiner’s Freeman Klopott reported, the number of top cops making six-figure salaries jumped 30 percent during her tenure, including $110,730 paid to one inspector whose primary job is updating the chief’s email and calendar. Lanier is following a well-trod bureaucratic path by larding up pay and perks for her top staff instead of concentrating all available resources on the front lines.
Councilman Phil Mendelson, who chairs the council’s public safety committee, told Lanier point-blank that her budget is large enough to maintain an adequate force, and Finance Committee Chairman Jack Evans introduced a bill requiring that she maintain a minimum of 4,000 sworn officers. This is easier said than done when there’s only enough in Mayor Vince Gray’s $9.5 billion budget proposal to hire 120 new officers — not enough to keep the force at its current level, let alone replace the 250 who will depart by the end of the year.
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It’s no coincidence that the dwindling number of street cops has been accompanied by a corresponding spike in crime. Homicides are up 18 percent and burglaries are up 23 percent. Overall theft in D.C. increased 25 percent, but it spiked 65 percent in poorer wards east of the Anacostia River and 46 percent in affluent Ward 3. Thieves are already snatching iPhones, wallets, and even tires on parked cars with impunity. Without a uniformed deterrent, things will only get worse this summer. Police union chief Kristopher Baumann correctly notes that the city has a choice between keeping residents and visitors safe or continuing to fund giant bureaucracies that provide little, if any, measurable public benefits. But there’s still little indication that the mayor, the council or Lanier are really willing to do what it takes to make public safety their top priority.
