Police Union president raises concerns about MPD staffing crisis
Police Union president raises concerns about DC staffing crisis
On Thursday, the head of D.C.'s Police Union raised concerns, saying they are dealing with a staffing crisis that should concern anyone who lives or works in the nation's capital. FOX 5's Homa Bash reports.
WASHINGTON - On Thursday, the head of D.C.'s Police Union sounded the alarm, saying they are dealing with a staffing crisis that should concern anyone who lives or works in the nation's capital.
By the numbers:
There have been seven homicides in the last seven days and 61 people killed in D.C. so far this year.
The latest homicide, the deadly double shooting of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky at the Capital Jewish Museum, happened just blocks away from Metropolitan Police headquarters.
"I don't know why there aren't more people up in arms about the situation that we have crime at these kind of levels and the police department is being treated in such a deplorable fashion," said Gregg Pemberton, D.C. Police Union Chair.
There are currently about 3,200 police officers with the Metropolitan Police Department. The budget allots for 4,000, so they are down by about 800 officers.
"I've been on the Metropolitan Police Department for 20 years now and what I can tell you is the condition of this police department is the worst that I have ever seen it," Pemberton said.
Pemberton said officers also working around two million hours of overtime a year in total and because of understaffing, are having pre-approved time off and vacations canceled, leading to a further decline in morale.
Dig deeper:
Earlier this month, the union actually sued Mayor Muriel Bowser for not implementing wage increases that were approved by an arbitrator.
Pemberton also added that they are concerned statistics touted by city leaders showing violent crime is down are not accurate and not what officers are experiencing out on the streets.
"From what we're hearing from our members and sources within the department, is that there are command staff officials being investigated for manipulating the crime stats so that they appear lower than they actually are - and that is something everybody should be concerned about," he said.
In response to the union's claims, MPD spokesperson Tom Lynch, said, "Today, we remain solely focused on the investigation into last night's shooting, supporting the victims and all those impacted by this tragedy."