July 26, 2006
How Many Police Can the District Use?
There is something reassuring about seeing police officers on the streets. And the more of them a city has, the more they can deploy themselves and make their presence known, or so goes the logic. But how many police officers is too many? At what point do we start seeing diminishing returns for every new officer brought on to the force? Does the District, now in the midst of a violent summer, have too many police officers? Or does it need more?
These are questions that many city officials, activists, and residents are pondering. The recent uproar over violent crime in the District has again rekindled calls for more officers to be added to the force. According to NBC 4's Tom Sherwood, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams would like to see the city's police force grow to 5,000, a substantial increase from the 3,800 currently serving in its ranks and the 4,250 it is expected to grow to in the coming years. But this is hardly a new call -- councilmember and mayoral candidate Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5) pushed legislation last year to add 1,600 new officers to the force, though the measure failed.
Is this the answer? Most people would say no. The District has always outpaced other cities in the number of police officers per resident, and the sheer numbers have had little effect on the city's consistently high rates of crime. In 1990, the District had 742 police officers per 100,000 residents, and in 2000, the number stood at 631 per 100,000 residents. If the police force were to grow to 5,000 officers, that proportion would increase to over 800 police officers per 100,000 residents, a shockingly high number.
So what's the answer? Well, first off, redeployment. Police officers have to walk their beats, making their presence known more consistently than they have before. Policing is more a matter of quality than it is quantity, a point the District has proven for decades. Secondly, priorities. This may be the right time for city officials to start discussing the role local police officers play in non-local functions -- motorcades for federal government officials, security detail for visiting dignitaries, etc. The less our local police officers can concentrate on local issues, the more time they'll spend chasing after criminals instead of helping prevent the crimes altogether.
Obviously, this is a bigger issue than we give it credit for, and there are a number of variables to consider. But it's somewhat disappointing to see our councilmembers simply vote for increases in numbers because the idea looks good on paper, but usually fails in practice. As we have mentioned before, we would have been happier seeing the council take its time to really debate effective crime-fighting measures instead of merely papering over the issue with solutions of questionable efficacy.
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What are the numbers for police per square mile? Seeing as DC doesn't have the same density in its core that many other cities have, perhaps the cops-per-person stat is deceptive. Sure there might be more cops per person, but we're still spreading them out more thinly than in denser cities.
I will vote for the first mayoral candidate to propose that police officers be required to spend 50% of their patrol hours outside of their cars (and not in a 7-11 either). I did a ridealong with a police officer a while ago, and it was amazing how quickly we whipped around the neighborhood. We covered a lot of ground, sure, but I dont know that much of it was productive.
Park the cars. Walk. Talk to people. I've felt far less comfortable in Mt. P since Officer Faucett left as foot patrol. He knew everyone, talked to people, could get the quality of life crimes resolved with a stern look, and made a point of talking to the business owners who knew what was happening on the street. It works, if only MPD will do it.
What are the officers-per-person numbers for other cities? It's hard to know what's "shockingly high" with nothing to compare the numbers to.
Also, Reid makes a good point, and it would be good to have per-square-mile stats for other cities as well -- though square miles in Rock Creek Park, for example, are very different from square miles in downtown areas.
And how do we count in all the non-DC law enforcement that's in the city? Much of it may be confined to small designated areas, like federal buildings, but does it have any part to play?
Yeah I was also wondering why 800 is "shocking".
One thing you have to keep in mind is that when an officer is busy, they're busy. I know it sounds stupid but I was reminded of this last night. There was a small fire in my apt. building and the PD, FD and EMS responded. There was still a police officer at the scene hours later. Why? She was just kind of hanging out by a the fire truck.. possibly filling out some kind of report, but I'm sure she could have been a lot more useful somewhere else.
On Tuesday there was a very small protest at the Iraqi embassy. There were ~10 police overseers, mostly just standing around.
These are just an anecdotes, but I'm sure it adds up.
Most people I speak with in MPD or other gov branches point to inefficient deployment/implementation of current resources as the area that needs attention.
I agree that far too many officers in the district spend time posted up in their cars instead of actually getting a feel for the neighborhood. In Petworth and Columbia Heights, there's been a significant increase in police presence near metro stations, popular chill spots and along main roads. However, this has done little to alleviate the crime that continues to go on.
The fact that Mayor Williams has declared a "Crime Emergency" in DC is absolute RUBBISH. Effectively what he's saying is that it takes a grizzly murder in a posh white neighborhood for anyone to take notice. Meanwhile, this past spring in Petworth, a man was shot over a pizza and barely an eyebrow was raised. There was no town meeting, there were no keynote speakers.
The problem here is that there are too many neighborhoods where violence is accepted as the norm. No community outrage, no serious investigation. On the other hand, neighborhoods like Georgetown are so isolated and sheltered that the residents forget that in a big city, there will be some cats who'll try to your shit. In short, we're all to blame. Some of us for being too naive, others for being complacent, and the rest for not giving a fuck.
I wish it wasn't about race, but apparently that's the case with everything round these parts.
Nice to see DCist popping off yet again about how the Council should have funded "effective crime-fighting measures" instead of more police.
And these "effective" measures would include...? Come on DCist, you can do it - just give us one good idea... Hmmm... sure is quiet.
Didn't I read in the Post some 2 or 3 years back that part of DC's problem is so many police officers are on desk duty? That it has an inordinate amount of officers either listed as "disabled" or under investigation, or whatever the reason is. but the figure was something horrifying like 20 percent.
(and yes, I'm too lazy to look up the story)
Hear-hear, JM... although be careful here, we may have the race card played yet again (somehow)...
You will NEVER get cops walking a beat so long as Ramsey is running the show. He has consistently stated that vehicle deployment is the most efficient means of covering PSAs. You can push all you want for bikes and beat cops and motorcycle cops, but it's not going to happen. Ever.
Second, the council can call for all the police hiring it wants to, but it's not going to change the fundamental problem with officer retention in DC. You hire 10 officers, and 3 quit, retire, or move to the suburbs, or get busted for raping prostitutes. Starting salaries are a joke, morale is abysmal, living downtown is out of the question on their salaries. They arrest someone for selling narcotics, a year later the jury nullifies the case because, obviously, the police are all racists and they planted that crack and $800 in cash. They have to deal Georgetowners whining about "suspicious" black people walking down their streets, then they get sent to Barry Farms and get shot at. Any wonder why they'd want to double their salary with a cushy patrol job in Germantown where they can pull over nervous soccer moms and give them tickets for busted taillights?
Williams is bragging about the 30k new residents DC's added. Where's the requisite law enforcement? I can't wait until Fenty becomes mayor and passes a residency requirement and ALL the cops quit en mass. Between that and all the felons coming back to Shaw after serving their 10 years, town's in for some "vibrant" next couple years.
JM-
First off, I don't think they needed to do anything but drag Ramsey before them and demand a detailed breakdown of how police are deployed. If the problem is that police resources are not being used efficiently, the solution is to demand that they be used efficiently. That's way cheaper and much more effective in the long-run than claiming that we need more and more police officers. If we can't make due with what we have (which is, according to DOJ, the highest proportion of cops to residents in the country), what makes us think that just adding more numbers will work?
I don't have a perfect solution. Maybe a solution wasn't what was needed for this crime emergency -- maybe a little tweaking would do just fine.
Thanks for finally providing a comparison, Martin. I do hope that's a comparison of cities, not one of those silly lists where we compare DC to the states and are shocked that it rates highest (or lowest) in whatever one would expect to have more (or less) of in urban areas.
JM, yours sounds like an argument that gets a lot of workout when people are scared about something (we've seen it many times since 9/11):
1. We have to do something about X.
2. This is something.
3. Therefore we have to do this.
Also, at all the crime meetings I have attended the officers present have complained about the time and paperwork needed to process-prosecute arrests in this city. Apparently since we are not a real city/state all our arrests have to go through federal prosecuters.
If true, this may justify the need for more percapita officers than other jurisdictions.
KC,
The comparison is city-to-city. I should have posted the link, but it was a .pdf and I can't find it now. Either way, we were more than 100 cops per 100,000 residents above the second-place city...
JM,
You're just not paying attention. Above Martin suggests more intelligent use of the officers we have. Get them out of the cars and walking the streets, doing some preventative police work, instead of reactive police work. Have them treat every crime, like the stolen bike mentioned in Marc Fisher's column today, seriously. Perhaps you should direct your anger at the politicians who are being paid to come up with solutions yet continue to fail miserably.
I agree that we need beat cops. Maybe not all cops should be beat cops, but policing from behind the wheel of a police cruiser just doesn't work in most DC neighborhoods. If you don't get out and meet the residents, get to know who knows what, which house is housing the 20 delinquent thugs, which alleys are used for what, etc., how can you actually expect to prevent crime.
I'm not impressed with Ramsey. He refuses to implement beat cops even with residents begging for them.
I've lived here 10 years, and I've given up on MPD. Years of seeing MPD be reactive only, refusing to leave their vehicles for any reason other than to pick up their dry cleaning did it for me. I call only Capitol Police now.
In 2000, DC police were 64 per 10,000, whereas the next closest 'large' city had 53 (NYC had 50). How's DC differ than all these cities? In terms of policing, I have no idea.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/lpd00.pdf
Here is an idea: take the cops out of their cars (or hire new ones) and put them on the streets, actually walking their beat. It's too easy to dodge the blinking lights of cop cars. If we have cops actually on the street, becoming a part of our neighborhoods, it will be much harder to commit crimes.
For more, and to help this become a reality, please visit http://www.makedcsafe.com.
Does nobody remember the 80s, when we last went on a police hiring binge? And then, turned out that there had been no screening, and many of those people had to be fired - records, using their positions for criminal purposes, etc.
Hiring a few hundred more cops sounds great, until you remember that the DC area is probably the most competitive area in the country for police hiring. MPD has to compete with dozens of Federal agencies for their officers and the feds often pay more (esp when overtime is factored in), have better equipment, have better training, work better shifts and in better conditions, are seen as having more prestige, and are seen as having a better potential for advancement.
The result is that if you are an attractive police recruit (college degree, an internship along the way, clean record, top scores on exams) you have so many opportunities that it is hard for MPD to make the case. They sometimes do, and there are some great cops in DC, but other times they can't, and they are forced to hire what the Capitol, Park Police, Secret Service, Pentagon Police, etc won't take.
So the City Council can talk all they want about hundreds of new cops riding Segways around town, but when it comes down to, for many of the top recruits, riding a busted up patrol car into SE and getting screamed at just doesn't stack up to sitting in a nice climate-controlled booth outside the White House with the advanced training, the public's respect, and about 10-20K more per year.
Frankly, I admire the ones that sign on with MPD and stick it out, but I know that the cards are stacked against them staying.
For what's it's worth, one of the reasons DC has more cops per capita than other cities is the amnount of tourism here. New York, even while obviously a huge tourist destination, I believe has fewer tourists per capita than DC. To say nothing of the huge number of commuters DC has in the city Monday through Friday. In other words, the number of police officers per capita is misleading unless the per capita is adjusted to include commuters and tourists.
Being a cop in DC is a tough, tough job. I have much respect for people who do it well. In the neighborhood where I teach (east of the river), we had an MPD cop at my school who knew the kids, knew the neighborhood, coached our basketball teams, and wasn't afraid to pull a kid out of class and shake him down. Then he was reassigned. I think MPD needs to find the cops who are doing it "right," pay them more, and let them pick their assignments. And man, the cops might not walk beats, but have you ever seen the undercovers in SE? You would have NO idea they are cops, until they jump out of that hooptie in their jerseys and cargo shorts and it's too late for you.
Does anyone know if NYC and other cities have police deployed at schools? That might make up for part of the difference.
That's a good point bjackrian, but what about Las Vegas?
LV has outsourced much security to casino staff who, BTW, like to use cameras...
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