Jack Evans Report: Right-Sizing Our Public Safety Resources
By August 17, 2015 0 1245
•Many of you have read about the uptick in crime across our city. Mayor Bowser and Chief Lanier held a press conference last week to talk about the increase in our homicide rate — 20 percent over this time last year. Both the mayor and the chief expressed their commitment to doing everything they can to address this rise in violence.
I’ve written about combatting crime many times in this column. During my time on the Council, making our community safer and funding our public safety needs have been among my highest priorities. In the past several months, I have attended multiple community meetings specifically about crime and even more civic association and ANC meetings at which crime has
been discussed.
Residents are rightly concerned. We have worked too hard for too long to combat the terrible crime that once plagued our city.
I speak frequently with Chief Lanier and Mayor Bowser about the violence and crime we are seeing of late. The chief often mentions the serious danger that synthetic drugs represent, both for users and for the gangs distributing the drugs. In June, the Council acted swiftly to increase penalties for selling these substances, and MPD is working diligently to tackle the illegal distribution networks and address the gang turf wars that these drugs are causing.
I mentioned how hard we worked to address the terrible crime we saw in D.C. in the 1980s and ’90s. Those efforts involved all of us: police, vigilant residents, community groups and the District government. But I believe the Council needs to do more to aid our police.
At one time, MPD had more than 5,000 officers. When I first joined the Council in 1991, we had 4,500 officers. I have seen a decline in officers year after year.
Currently, the District has approximately 3,800 sworn police officers. However, due to retirements and officers leaving MPD — for jurisdictions in our neighboring suburban districts or for other careers — our officer corps is diminishing in numbers. I introduced a bill in April 2011 and again in January 2013 that would require the District to maintain a minimum staffing level of 4,000 sworn officers at all times. This was not meant as a statement that 4,000 is a magic number that will eliminate all our public safety concerns. Rather, it would force the mayor and the Council to fully fund 4,000 officers and not play around with the budget.
When the Council goes back into session in September, I plan to reintroduce that bill and to work with MPD, the mayor and the Council to see what other actions we can take to ensure that our officers have what they need to keep the District safe.
My goal is to raise awareness of the critical officer shortage facing the District and motivate the mayor and my colleagues to fund the Department adequately. I’ll continue to work closely with Chief Lanier, Mayor Bowser and community groups to make sure we are right-sizing our public safety resources and keeping our city the vibrant place to live and work that we have labored so hard to achieve.