With the terrific news that five suspects had been arrested over the weekend on charges of being behind a string of robberies and violent assaults on the National Mall this summer, Saturday should have been a banner day for the Metropolitan Police Department’s PR staff. But the U.S. Park Police, which took the lead on the multi-agency investigation, has ended up getting the lion’s share of the credit.

Police said they are a group of friends who lived in the same apartment complex, Hampton East on Benning Road in Southeast. They were bored and directionless until Newman came up with the idea of robbing tourists on the Mall, said U.S. Park Police Detective Todd C. Reid, who headed the investigation.

Oh well. At least the criminals are locked up and everyone’s feeling warm fuzzies toward the police for the first time in a long while. Right? Well, not exactly.

It seems the Examiner has unearthed some pretty disturbing information about the number of MPD officers (more than two dozen) who have been involved in seriously violent incidents (killings, maimings, etc.) and still have their jobs. This officer’s story was particularly disconcerting:

Or consider the status of Edward M. Ford. In 1993, he became a national figure in the debate over excessive force when he and another officer handcuffed a motorist to a mailbox. He was never charged in the case, but the woman sued the department and settled out of court.

He was also arrested on assault charges in 1993, 1995 and 1999.

Earlier this year, Ford was off-duty when he confronted a man who he thought had stolen tools from a house Ford was working on. Ford shot the man and killed him.

He remains on the police force and didn’t return calls seeking comment.

Granted, most of the civil suits against MPD officers cited by the Examiner were settled out of court, so it’s impossible to know what a jury would have made of each one. But somehow we’re guessing that MPD spokespeople aren’t particularly thrilled to be at work today.