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“We will lock you up.”

That was the message Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier delivered at a community meeting last night to any officers who planned to commit crimes.

Lanier spent around 90 minutes in a Ward 8 church detailing what she could about the two cases involving District 7 officer misconduct, and assuring those assembled that there is no widespread corruption within the department.

For the first time, Lanier said that officer Marc Washington — who was accused of taking nude photos of an underaged girl while on-duty — likely committed suicide by jumping in the Potomac River, though a medical examiner has yet to rule. An officer indicated in tipping off Washington about his arrest has since been cleared. Lanier said there were no indicators in Washington’s past that would have raised red flags about his alleged future conduct.

The same goes for officer Linwood Barnhill, who’s accused of running an underaged prostitution ring out of his apartment. Lanier said the officer apparently didn’t keep records of his clients.

Lanier said hiring standards are different than they were when Washington was hired in 2006 and very different than they were when Barhill was hired in 1989. For example, Lanier said around one in ten applicants were hired in 2006. Now it’s one in 25.

She stressed several times the importance of community members reaching out to MPD or the Office of Police Complaints if they have a negative or unusual experience with an officer. Several people who spoke at the meeting, however, said they’ve had difficulties getting MPD to follow-up on their complaints.

“You say, ‘If something doesn’t feel right you should say something,'” one woman said. “I’m saying something, something doesn’t feel right. I hear you saying these are isolated incidents but something inside of me just doesn’t feel right.”