The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has lost nearly a quarter of its officers since the beginning on 2014, and now the police union says the department is “in crisis.”
During testimony in 2001, MPD Chief Cathy Lanier said if the number of police in the city drops below 3,800, “we’re going to have trouble.” That time has come, as the number of rank and file officers, according to the most recent count, is down to 3,575.
According to a recent report from the D.C. Police Union, “crippling schedules, toxic management, and horrible deployment strategies” are causing officers to retire or resign in droves.
Gregg Pemberton, a union spokesman, says between January and October of 2015 233 officers retired from the department and another 114 resigned.
Since Jan. 1, 2014, almost 800 officers either quit or retired. “That’s over 22% of the rank and file,” Pemberton says.
At the same time the city’s police force has dwindled, D.C. has seen a giant spike in murders. As of Dec. 3, 150 people have been murdered in the District, marking a nearly 60 percent increase over 95 in 2014.
“Patrol division has been decimated, leaving fewer officers on the street to answer calls for service and patrol neighborhoods,” Pemberton writes. (RELATED: Americans Live In Fear Just Blocks From US Capitol)
According to Pemberton members of specialized divisions like crime scene technicians, K-9 officers and financial crime investigators are being redeployed to patrol units to make up for the loss of manpower, taking them away from their normal work for weeks at a time.
“This is just a shell game tactic that robs one unit to replace another,” Pemberton says. “And current management will defer to ‘high visibility’ over effective, productive strategy every time.”
Even the Emergency Response Team, which is responsible for active shooters and high risk entry, was short several members during a dangerous barricade situation earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the MPD did not immediately respond for request for comment for this story.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.