This weekend, Chris Magnus, deputy auditor for public safety, is scheduled to meet with the D.C. Police Union to discuss whether the union will facilitate interviews with Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) sergeants, detectives and patrol officers for a police staffing study.
This meeting comes just weeks after the police union filed a lawsuit against the Office of the D.C. Auditor (ODCA) for a report it previously released about MPD officer reinstatements.
As explained in a letter ODCA sent to then-MPD Chief Robert J. Contee III last year, the police staffing study, commissioned by D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), sets out to determine MPD’s officer staffing needs.
Data will be collected about service calls made by community members, department-initiated activities, administrative activities, and the effects of work schedule on staffing. MPD personnel will also be interviewed about how they view their job.
Once completed, ODCA will most likely recommend a staffing model intended to improve MPD’s effectiveness, efficiency and accountability. However, it remains to be seen if, or when, ODCA will reach the finish line in this endeavor.
As of Monday evening, ODCA hasn’t interviewed any MPD officers, detectives or sergeants.
D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson explained during a recent council breakfast that the holdup stems from MPD Chief Pamela Smith’s insistence that ODCA’s direct contact with patrol officers, sergeants and detectives for the study violates the police union’s collective bargaining agreement.
Patterson said that argument has no merit because ODCA doesn’t employ MPD officers.
“I think we’ll get there one way or another,” she told The Informer. “Either the union will set up a meeting with officers or we’ll go to district officers. I’m hopeful that when they meet with our deputy auditor, the union will understand it’s in their best interest to [participate in the study]. They’ve told other people — not us — council members and others, that they’ll work with us.”
A Debate That’s Raged On for Weeks
In 2001, the Public Employee Relations Board found that MPD, then under the leadership of Charles Ramsey, violated the Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act when it directly circulated a questionnaire about proposed tour-of-duty and scheduling changes to rank-and-file officers.
The board ordered the department to rescind the questionnaire, refrain from using the results compiled from a 1999 ballot, and post a public notice dictating that it violated policy.
In the days and weeks before Smith permanently assumed the helm of MPD, she engaged ODCA in similar conversations about protocol surrounding officer interviews and collection of data.
Patterson reached out to Mendelson, D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), chair of the council’s Committee on Public Safety and Justice, and other council members during the latter part of last month to request that they further examine Smith’s views on police representation and police union involvement in ensuring officer accountability.
In her Oct. 20 letter, Patterson mentioned Smith’s “apparent” refusal as U.S. Park Police chief to launch an internal administrative review of two park police officers who were involved in the shooting death of motorist Bijan Ghaisar.
Patterson went on to suggest that Smith might impede Magnus’ investigation of MPD officers’ ties to white supremacists and other hate groups.
An MPD spokesperson, responding to an Informer inquiry about the police staffing study, said that, since last year, MPD has engaged ODCA and its contractor, PFM Group Consulting, in dozens of interviews, roundtables, and meetings, released hundreds of data points, and provided clarification as requested.
The spokesperson went on to say that while Smith offered to avail herself and police officials ranking higher than sergeant to Magnus, she referred ODCA to the D.C. Police Union out of the regard for the union’s “rights as the exclusive representative of all bargaining unit members on issues pertaining to working conditions.”
On Tuesday, Mendelson expressed disappointment that Smith deferred to the police union, an entity he described as allergic to accountability and overly partial to a GOP-controlled Congress that’s hellbent on imposing on local affairs.
Mendelson went on to question the validity of the union’s argument. He said that no other union has ever attempted to stifle ODCA’s efforts to directly engage employees.
“Chief Auditor Patterson is interviewing police officers to understand staffing. It has nothing to do with any issue that they bargained,” Mendelson told The Informer. “She wants to understand what the rank and file understand about staffing,” he continued. “ It’s important that we get an outside, objective assessment about how many officers we have. Because the debates [about MPD’s staffing needs] are perpetual, it would be beneficial to have an objective assessment.”
D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton Speaks
On Nov. 9, Magnus sent a letter to D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton referencing previous communication they had about the police staffing study. He said he, once again, attached to the letter ODCA’s contract with PFM Group Consulting LLC and an outline of the nearly 50 products that would come out of the study.
Pemberton told The Informer that he’s currently evaluating ODCA’s request, but hasn’t received what he deems sufficient information about the police staffing study.
He also expressed skepticism about ODCA’s ability to produce an objective report about MPD.
The D.C. Police Union’s lawsuit against ODCA, filed in September, calls the ODCA’s 2022 report about the reinstatement of 36 MPD officers libelous and invasive. Pemberton said the report lacked context about the adjudication process that cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
Pemberton then recounted telling Patterson during a two-hour interview that MPD’s mishandling of its internal investigations, among other circumstances, led to the officers’ reinstatement. Much of that information, he said, never made it into ODCA’s report.
“Much of Patterson’s work has negativity toward police officers. We’re aware of her real intent,” Pemberton told The Informer.
“We’ve worked with her in the past and it’s come to our demise where she presents that information [so that it] supports her advocacy,” he added. “She’s nothing more than an activist. She’s the council’s bully. They tell her to go out with her baseball bat to harass agencies.”
In an email, Patterson told The Informer that ODCA follows the Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards to provide assurance of independence among audit team members. She also cited what she described as a rigorous internal quality control review process for ODCA reports.
Another accountability measure, she said, involves contracting with highly reputable firms and thoroughly reviewing draft reports.
MPD Chief Smith Outlines Staffing Priorities
As of Nov. 8, MPD has 3,314 officers, more than 40 of whom have been hired over the past couple of months.
A recently established MPD recruitment team focuses on colleges and universities, and jurisdictions beyond the D.C. metropolitan area where there are fewer competing law enforcement agencies. While speaking to reporters a day after her Nov. 7 confirmation, Smith cited the referral bonus as a recruitment strategy.
She also hinted at rent subsidies as another avenue to pursue in meeting MPD recruitment goals.
As it relates to staffing, Smith said she’s mitigating shortages by engaging partner agencies in conversation about how to support MPD’s crime prevention efforts in areas unrelated to policing. She also mentioned exploring adjustments to police units while prioritizing deeper community engagement.
“Our officers are passionate about what they’re doing. You will find them engaged in peace walks, basketball games with young people, being with boys to get their haircut,” Smith said. “MPD models my community engagement approach. In order to establish relationships, you have to be present. Officers should be conducting short beats. The public needs to see us. That’s a significant deterrent when someone is thinking about a crime.”
Why doesn’t ODCA ever audit DC FEMS? Pemberton is right about her bias, bullying for council and out of context reports that support her advocacy. Also, it’s laughable that she uses firms that are highly reputable. She is one of the biggest wasters of tax money. That is really what needs the auditing, her and her office.