Wednesday, when a genial Police Chief Cathy Lanier met with the public, she addressed many sundry concerns about getting officers more time for crime prevention and increased face time with residents and business owners. Of course, with these lofty goals come a familiar set of barriers, among them paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.
Apparently carrying a gun doesn’t exempt you from the tiny-cut-giving task of shuffling paper after just about any arrest or incident. Today’s Examiner brings us an “inside scoop” perspective on the hours and hours uniformed cops spend filing forms instead of, you know, fighting crime. D.C. cops claim they’re one of the only major forces that foist everything from booking reports to court documents on the city’s finest.
The solution supported by Lanier as well as other officers is a simple one: hire more people to handle the paperwork and keep sworn officers from turning into secretaries with a badge. Other area forces already have a passel of staff dedicated to shuffling and sorting. Sound easy? Yeah, we think so too, but the fix costs money and would force MPD to completely change the way they do business, no small task for a couple of fresh-faced newcomers like Mayor Fenty and Lanier.
Even if MPD could get its hands on more staff, more structural problems remain. It’s not just officers on the ground who face the paperwork dilemma. Tuesday the City Council approved fast-track measures to get camera’s on the District’s streets faster. MPD officials told law makers they were burdened by a lengthy procurement process which by statute takes a minimum of 90 days. The council waived the regular procedures in hopes the cameras, whose use was approved in October, will finally join the 48 already in use.
In debating the waiver Council members Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) and Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) asked what seems to be the $64,000 question: Why not just change the cumbersome procurement process instead of scrapping it entirely when police or public pressure forces the Council’s hand? Fair enough. But can we really get our hopes up that MPD, the Mayor and the Council can restructure an entrenched system of waste? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, the next time you see a cop you might want to give him shiny new Bic and box of those tiny band-aids.
Photo by Flickr user digitaldefection.
