May 20, 2008
Morning Roundup: Serving the Public Edition
Good morning, D.C. Scanning today's headlines offers a pretty bleak assessment of the District of Columbia's public servants. Apart from the top story that D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier has been forced to rehire 17 officers who were fired for misconduct because the department missed a crucial deadline, which we'll get to below, we've also got the D.C. DMV employee who has pleaded guilty to bribery charges associated with her participation in a scam to sell phony driver's licenses, and a D.C. homicide detective who has been convicted of income tax evasion (not to mention last night's reminder of the Office of Tax and Revenue case). Must be tough out there for honest city employees to be so often represented by the worst kind of greed and disregard for the difference between right and wrong. Any D.C. government employees who feel like venting in the comments, have at.
MPD Forced to Rehire Officers Fired for Misconduct: That's the top Metro story in today's Washington Post, and it's got teeth. A total of 17 officers, who were fired for misconduct ranging from lying about having given blood in order to get four hours off of work to covering up for fellow officers who were involved in fist fights, are back on the force with back pay and seniority, all because the Metropolitan Police Department apparently can't keep track of deadlines. This sort of failure to keep on top of disciplinary deadlines has been a problem for the department before, and Lanier has said these current cases actually predate her tenure. Assistant Chief Peter Newsham told the Post that this problem shouldn't happen again, because, he claims, the department had been misinterpreting a deadline that they now will follow more precisely. Which part of the word deadline could the department have not understood?
D.C. Area Struck by Counterfeit Bills: The Examiner reports on a warning from the U.S. Secret Service that the D.C. metro area is being plagued by counterfeit $100 bills. Many different individuals who appear not to be working together have been arrested in the region for using a bleaching technique to turn $5 bills into $100. Since they are printed on real currency paper and still contain security strips, the only way to tell if you have a fake $100 bill is to hold it up to the light and check for an old Abraham Lincoln next to a reprinted Benjamin Franklin that do not match up.
Briefly Noted: Four people shot in Southeast drive-by ... Stabbing on National Mall ... Man shot, killed in Southeast ... DCPS security contract set for renewal.
Photo by tzakielmuto
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Anyone else getting tired of paying through the nose for the privelege of being lorded over by a bunch of corrupt kleptocrats? This is what happens when your school system graduates people who are functionally illiterate and can't even SPELL words like "deadline,"tax evasion," "counterfeit," and even "human dignity." It's like DC's the perfect nexus of corrupt a**holes, smug jackasses, and people who just don't give a s**t. This town drives me f***ing crazy sometimes. So let's go crazy...Broadway-style!
DC! DC! It's a helluva town!
The crooks are up and the Waterfront's down!
Commuters get trapped in a hole in the ground!
Everyone drives like a f***ing clown!
DC! DC! It's a helluva TOWN!
[jazz hands!]
Thank you, thank you. [climbs behind piano] Now if you don't mind, I'd like to take it down a notch with a little weather...appropriate...music. Here's a little something by a Mister Paul Williams, and later made famous by a very...special...lady. I hope you enjoy it.
Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit.
Nothing ever seems to fit.
Hangin' AROUND!
Nothing to do but FROWN!
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me-ee DOWN.
Funny how it seems I always wind up here with you...
[Richard Carpenter pushes towards stage, empties pistol into monkey, screaming crowd stampedes for exits.]
This is just a wee reminder of how far we've got to go before DC is even at the level of a third rate kleptocracy.
That thing with the police department is particularly appalling. Must make the decent DC cops (yes, there are some) sick.
Doesn't the District regularly lose federal education funding because they fail to submit paperwork on time? That's like walking ten blocks to hit an ATM and not picking up a free $20 bill on the sidewalk because you're too lazy to bend over.
i'm starting to think that maybe DC doesn't deserve to become a state.
Lanier should resign over this.
"Lanier should resign over this."
According to the WP these all date from before Lanier's tenure. She's just the one being forced (probably on advice of city lawyers) to deal with the unfortunate aftermath.
Newsham's story is baloney. MPD has been having this same problem with following the disciplinary action timelines for TWENTY YEARS. They are simply unable to properly track and deal with these things. Heads need to roll at MPD for this. They have kept running into the same issue over and over and over again. Judges have told MPD repeatedly that they need to reinstate fired officers b/c MPD yet again failed to follow the law.
I'm usually not a big fan of Phil Mendelson and his anal retentive nit-picking. But this is something that screams out for immediate public hearings and public floggings of Lanier, Newsham and the MPD legal team. Fenty needs to send a strong signal that this sort of plain ol' incompetence is not tolerated. People at MPD responsible for this mess need to be fired. It's that simple.
Who wastes their time looking up information on Jason Cherkis? He's the douchiest City Paper reporter there and his articles are awful. Why throw away your career to harass him?
I'm kind of surprised that the rehired officers were apparently put back on patrol by Lanier. I understand that she's legally obligated to rehire them, but if their offenses were serious enough to warrant being fired, should they really be back out on the street, even if DC does need more patrol officers?
I would think that these officers could be put on administrative-bitch-coffee-maker detail or something. Then again, I don't have the caliber of training required to be an MPD administrator, so maybe I'm off-base...
Honest city employees are like giant pandas. Endangered. Imported from foreign lands. Poor breeders.
[Richard Carpenter pushes towards stage, empties pistol into monkey, screaming crowd stampedes for exits.]
Yes, but does he yell "Sic Semper Tyrannis" first?
Yes, but does he yell "Sic Semper Tyrannis" first?
No, but he does hide in a theater and yell, "I'M JUST A PATSY! I AM NOT RESISTING ARREST!"
Who wastes their time looking up information on Jason Cherkis? Why throw away your career to harass him?
I wonder if Cherkis is pooping in his nappies at the thought that this cop is back on the street with a badge and a gun again?
We desperately need a local media source that will actually follow a few DC cops around all day and report on what they do. I'm sure local citizens could point out a few of the alleys they sleep in, the private businesses / residences / churches they spend time in while on the clock, etc.
Other cities have media outlets that report these types of stories routinely, and it seems to keep the city employees on the job a bit more, if only to avoid potential embarrassment.
Why not DC?
"I understand that she's legally obligated to rehire them, but if their offenses were serious enough to warrant being fired, should they really be back out on the street, even if DC does need more patrol officers?"
I would imagine the police union is insisting they be reinstated to patrol if that's what they want. And since DC screwed this into the ground, they'd have no legal choice but to comply.