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Vincent Gray 
Plan for Public Safety
September 4, 2010

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Vince Gray’s Plan for Public Safety

Vince Gray knows that you can’t talk about giving our kids a world-class education or attracting businesses and creating jobs, without discussing the imperative of creating safe communities. 

The first responsibility of government is to ensure the safety and well-being of the people it serves.  Vince Gray knows that Washingtonians have public safety services that are not on par with the surrounding jurisdictions or the nation as a whole.  The quality of public safety services varies by ward and neighborhood – even by street. Too many children and families are being victimized by violent crime for no other reason than they live in a dangerous neighborhood.

While we have made some progress in the past 10 years in some areas of public safety, progress in other areas has remained stagnant or has atrophied.  We can – and should – do more to make our city safer and better prepared to handle emergencies when they arise.  Vince Gray knows that until our law enforcement officers start getting the support they need from the Mayor’s office, their jobs will continue to be that much harder and more dangerous than they should be, and too many people will be victimized by crime.  And he also understands that until we start doing more to deal with the root causes of crime on the frontend, we’ll never end this vicious circle of violence. 

Vince Gray isn’t interested in platitudes or stale, worn-out approaches to these matters.  He will employ well-defined strategies that center on community involvement, sustainability, focused leadership, respect, proactive and proper resourcing, and consistent execution.  He will repair damaged relationships with our front-line public safety workers.  He will harness the energy of community activism.  He will establish focused leadership in public safety, give this critical issue a real voice, and educate all on this vision.

Similar to all areas of government, a significant challenge for these initiatives involves proper funding for sustainable strategies.  A Gray Administration will effectuate changes that leverage available funding resources such as grants and federal partnerships and hold agency directors accountable to stay within budget.  The absence of high-level public safety leadership has allowed certain agencies to engage in unchecked overspending.  Throughout the Fenty Administration, overspending within FEMS overtime alone has regularly exceeded $7 million per year.  Seizing control of this rampant overspending will serve as a source of funding for sustainable improvement strategies.

Vince Gray’s plan for public safety is based on five core principles geared toward making sure that people are safe – and feel safe – regardless of where they live, work, or play.

  • We must restore coordination and accountability in the District’s public safety efforts.  With all of the different federal and city agencies involved in the District’s public safety efforts, we need a single point person to help coordinate all of their efforts.  By reestablishing the position of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, the District will have a single, senior point of coordination and accountability for the multitude of city services that must work together to ensure the public’s safety and sense of safety.
  • We must end youth violence and reduce juvenile crime.  It’s time we overhaul our hugely dysfunctional juvenile justice and rehabilitation system so that the city’s youths are less likely to engage in criminal activity and more likely to receive the treatment and wrap-around services they need if they do come in contact with the juvenile justice system.
  • We must make sure that we bring strategic change to the Metropolitan Police Department.  It’s time the District stopped paying lip service to the concept of community policing, and took concrete steps to build permanent working relationships with police officers and the communities they serve.  We need to make the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) the agency it should be, through a variety of initiatives that will improve crime-fighting strategies, attract high-caliber candidates, reward hard-working officers, and improve retention.
  • We must crack down on violent offenders, while creating real opportunities for rehabilitation.  Vince knows that too many of the criminals we see in the criminal justice system have been arrested before.  Recidivism is as much a symptom of the failure of our rehabilitation and re-entry systems as it is a function of a system that fails to produce a certainty of punishment.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will explore ways to toughen our criminal code so that people know that they’ll spend hard time in prison if they’re convicted of violent crimes.  He will also work to improve our offender re-entry system so that people who are coming back into society after being incarcerated stand a better chance at successfully reintegrating themselves with civil society.  Returning citizens want and need jobs and we should help them achieve that goal.
  • We must reinvigorate stalled reform of our emergency medical services system, and ensure world-class agency operations.  Efforts to improve delivery of emergency medical services were initiated after the 2007 release of Task Force recommendations, but several recommendations continue to lag and reform efforts have been stalled.  As several recent public failures illustrate, we must commit to reform of EMS service delivery in order to ensure world-class pre-hospital care.  The current administration has stalled these efforts.  Vince Gray will ensure that continuous improvement of these services becomes a reality.

 Creating Coordination and Accountability in Public Safety Efforts

There are a lot of moving pieces in the District’s public safety and justice system.  In addition to the Metropolitan Police Department, over 30 legally constituted police forces operate in the city.  The federal government oversees major components of the District’s justice system, including the city’s courts, the prosecutor’s office, the Bureau of Prisons, Court Social Services, and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, which is responsible for adult offender supervision.  The District of Columbia is responsible for the D.C. Jail, which houses offenders with sentences of less than one year, and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), which serves committed youth.  Other District public safety agencies include the Fire and EMS Department, the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, and the Office of Unified Communications.  This is a difficult landscape in which to ensure service delivery and effect change.  Planning, communication, and cooperation among these entities have proven sorely inadequate.

For four years, there has been no single, senior point of authority or accountability in the District Government for ensuring that public safety services and initiatives are planned and delivered in a coordinated fashion.  And too often, our public safety agencies lack transparency and sound management, which leaves District residents without sufficient information to have real trust in the system.  Without coordination and accountability, fingers get pointed, excuses get made, and the public suffers.  Vince Gray will restore that coordination and accountability by appointing a Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, thus reestablishing the this important role.

The Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice will bring focus to combating crime and increasing the public’s safety and wellbeing.  The Deputy Mayor will coordinate all of the District’s public safety agencies; develop comprehensive public safety objectives; establish collaborative relationships with partner public safety agencies, neighboring jurisdictions, community groups, and the public; and serve as a senior-level point of authority. Vince Gray will establish a holistic public safety strategy, not wasteful and sporadic efforts to quell public outrage.  Unconstitutional checkpoints, legally and practically suspect anti-loitering laws, dismissal of public involvement, disregard for front-line public safety employees, and deficient implementation will no longer be relied upon for results.  District residents deserve results based on tangible strategies, not shifting national trends.

As Mayor, Vince Gray will:

Re-establish the position of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice.  Vince Gray knows how critical it is that there is someone at the top who has the experience to lead a complex public safety system, reduce fragmentation and parochialism through coordination and collaboration, and ensure that the public safety services of the Nation’s Capital are second to none.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will re-establish the position of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice and will appoint a recognized expert to that position to ensure comprehensive leadership and forge collaboration between all – the District’s public safety agencies, Federal partners, Jurisdictional partners, and critical social services.

Focus on bias-related crime prevention.  Crime and violence that targets individuals based on immutable traits is too prevalent in the District.  Bias-related crimes have not received enough attention or resources under the current Administration.  Vince Gray’s Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice will serve as the leader on this issue, prioritize bias-related crime reporting, and unite resources to develop relationships with community leaders and provide services to victims and community groups.  Vince Gray will:

  • Dedicate additional resources to the Metropolitan Police Department’s liaison units.  Bias-related crimes are more than just violations of the law; they operate as messages of hate and intolerance directed at an entire community.  For that reason, a Vince Gray Administration will focus on sending a strong and swift message back that the District as a community will not tolerate this hate.  This means additional training for all MPD officers to identify and report bias-related crimes, involving community groups to encourage better reporting and foster relationships with the public, dedicated command officers for each liaison unit, and collaboration with the prosecution in order to maximize convictions.

Maintain accurate records.  The District is currently plagued with the problem of shoddy record-keeping in certain city agencies.  Over the past several years, the Office of the Inspector General has released reports that chronicle a lack of appropriate care and attention with regard to reports of missing children and adults in need of care.  It is unacceptable that such reports have been carelessly left on office floors and in piles in warehouses.  Our city residents deserve better.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will task the Deputy Mayor with overseeing vital record-keeping functions, as well as ensuring that crime statistics and other performance measures are accurately reported.

Develop an inter-agency approach to crime prevention.  The Deputy Mayor will be responsible for exercising the power of the Executive Branch to forge meaningful cooperative arrangements between the police department and other city agencies and non-governmental organizations that have the capacity to eliminate the conditions that breed crime and detract from public safety.  The Deputy Mayor also will work with surrounding jurisdictions and effectuate and implement border agreements to stem cross-jurisdictional crime.

Improve the operation of public safety grants programs.  We need to do a better job of monitoring grant money that is available and of submitting sophisticated grant applications so the city’s residents can benefit from the resources available.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will direct his Deputy Mayor to develop a “dashboard” system to track key performance metrics related to grant opportunities.  This dashboard will also allow the public to know about the financial status of federal grants programs.  This sort of accountability is exactly what’s needed to ensure that we don’t have to return grants dollars to the federal government.

Taking politics out of public safety.  Too often under the current Administration, we’ve seen public safety decisions made based on political motives.  The Trinidad roadblock initiative is a perfect example.  Following some high-profile shootings, the police department, under pressure from the Mayor and Attorney General Peter Nickles, implemented a system of roadblocks to prevent people who didn’t have “a good reason” from driving into the Trinidad neighborhood.  You don’t need a law degree to know that the Mayor’s program was clearly unconstitutional, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said so in no uncertain terms.  In the Gray Administration, all public safety decisions will be based on public safety needs – not newspaper headlines.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will ensure that the staffing and deployment of public safety resources is aligned with need and is not based on politics.  Additionally, the Deputy Mayor will ensure that strategies and tactics to address persistent issues are long-term and the product of deliberate planning and community involvement, not short-term ploys and gimmicks.

Ending Youth Violence and Reducing Juvenile Crime

The involvement of juveniles in violent crime is a grave concern to the residents across the District of Columbia.  While juvenile arrests comprised only 8% of all arrests in the District of Columbia in FY 2009, juveniles accounted for over one third of all arrests for violent crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault).   Youth violence, and especially youth homicide, is simply unacceptable in the nation’s capital.  Our system of juvenile justice is dysfunctional.  Services are “stove-piped,” coordination between local and federal agencies is poor, critical information is withheld from those in the best position to help, and meaningful services are often poorly coordinated.  Vince Gray will work to develop a juvenile justice and youth development strategy that balances enforcement, intervention, prevention and care, and treatment.

As Mayor, Vince Gray will continue to move juvenile justice reform forward in the District, while strengthening the law enforcement, court system, juvenile justice, and community-based organization partnerships that are the key to targeting those youth most at-risk of committing or being a victim of crime or violence.  Vince Gray will draw on his experiences as Executive Director of Covenant House where he worked every day with youth who, despite the challenges of poverty, father absence, poor schools and lack of resources, showed great resiliency and went on to lead successful lives.

As Mayor, Vince Gray will:

Implement the recommendations of the 2009 Blueprint for combating youth violence.  In 2009, under Vince Gray’s leadership, the D.C. Council commissioned Responding to Gang, Crew and Youth Violence in the District of Columbia: A Blueprint for Action.  The Blueprint provides a useful framework for developing a comprehensive, community-based strategy to prevent youth involvement in violence, and address its root causes.  Tragically, the current mayor has ignored the report and continues to make policy decisions that are contrary to its recommendations.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will continue to move forward with implementing the recommendations of the Blueprint, guided by the following principles that frame the report:

  • Violence is preventable and prevention must be sustained by the development of strong communities;
  • Youth violence reflects broader family, community, social, and cultural dynamics requiring comprehensive long term and sustained responses.
  • Youth violence prevention and positive youth development requires a strong partnership between public and private agencies and young people themselves.

Use data to shape efforts to reduce youth violence and juvenile crime.  When data are collected fully and impartially, the solutions often begin to present themselves.  Vince Gray will make sure that his Administration’s approach to juvenile justice reform in the District continues to be data-driven.  We need to know how many youth, on any given day, are not in school, or otherwise are not where they are supposed to be.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will listen to the community to help determine where the needs are most acute, and will develop policies that respond strategically to what the data show, and what the people who are most directly affected by youth violence and juvenile crime – families, teachers, coaches, ministers, and mentors – have to say about the best solution. 

Assure that MPD partners with the community to respond to critical incidents of youth- related violence.  The nationally recognized Gang Intervention Partnership that until recently served Ward One, and the programs funded under the Citywide Coordinating Council for Youth Violence Prevention have proven to assist with case closure and contribute to breaking the cycles of violence, prevent retribution crimes, and increase public safety.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will ensure that the MPD implements these models citywide.

Assure safe passages for our youth so that they can go to school and recreation centers without fear of violence.  Many youth don’t attend school or take advantage of the recreational resources in their neighborhoods because they need to cross over crew and gang boundaries to do so.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will task the Deputy Mayor to work with MPD to identify those DCPS and Charter middle schools, high schools, and recreation centers most at risk of youth violence in or near these facilities. Site-specific safety plans will be developed within six months by joint MPD, school personnel, recreation center staff and community-based organizations.  These stakeholders will identify crew affiliations and conflicts and address how to assure safe passages and provide a coordinated response to conflicts.

Facilitate inter-agency information sharing.   There must be information sharing, concerning young people who are supposed to be receiving services from social service agencies in the District, but are at-risk of falling through the holes in the “safety net.”  Too often our juvenile confidentiality laws have been used to conceal the ineptitude of agency officials in the name of juvenile confidentiality.  Of course, confidential information about a child should be handled with care and never abused – but there are times when public safety is at risk, or the safety of the young person, him or herself, is at-risk, when people need to know what agencies they can appeal to for help and hold accountable for their actions.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will work to make sure our juvenile confidentiality laws balance the interests of public safety with the best interests of the young people.

Implement a “carrot-and-stick” approach.  Law enforcement agencies must work in partnership with the District’s community-based organizations, churches, social service organizations, schools, sports teams or other neighborhood associations in order to have an impact on youth violence and juvenile crime.  The City of Boston is widely recognized for its novel and successful approach to quelling youth violence.  The key to Boston’s successful youth violence prevention initiative was collaboration among law enforcement, social service, and community-based organizations.  This collaboration allowed Boston to provide positive, meaningful, structured opportunities to young people on the one hand, with the threat of strict enforcement of local and federal gun laws and zero tolerance for violence on the other.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will draw from Boston’s experience and his experience on the Council of the District of Columbia in spearheading a juvenile violence prevention initiative to improve juvenile justice approaches here.

Hold the Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services responsible for better outcomes for youth under its custody.  The reform efforts of the past five years have led to closing the outdated and inhumane Oak Hill Detention Center and replacing it with a smaller state-of-the-art facility, New Beginnings, and new community-based partnerships to serve returning youth.  While recidivism rates have been going down, a number of recent tragedies have shown the price of failure.  Troubled youth are often placed in the community without adequate supervision or the support necessary to succeed and stay out of trouble.  Too often, these youth end up being killed or charged with murder.  The District’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services must be held to the highest standards of accountability for youths committed to its custody and supervision.   Currently, New Beginnings is understaffed and over capacity.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will ensure that an assessment process is implemented by recognized leaders to address overcrowding, determine appropriate capacities, including proper staffing at New Beginnings, and will implement the recommendations that stem from the assessment.

Assess services necessary for at-risk youth.  Through his earlier career running the Department of Human Services and Covenant House, Vince Gray understands that children who are raised in households in which family violence and substance abuse occurs, or in which one or more family member is incarcerated, face staggering obstacles in their lives.  However, every dollar spent at the “front-end” of the system (programs and services for at-risk youths) will save tens of thousands of dollars spent at the “back end” (court costs and incarceration).  Our current juvenile justice “strategy” is lacking in ways that continue to force troubled youth into gangs and to use drugs, ultimately, keeping them in the “revolving door” of incarceration.  There must be strong community partnerships between the police and DYRS, as well as other agency and court officials, in the communities.  Vince Gray will listen, and require his agency heads to listen to what the people who are most directly affected by youth violence and juvenile crime – families, teachers, coaches, ministers, and mentors, and the youth themselves – have to say about the best solution.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will continue to move juvenile justice reform forward in the District, while strengthening the law enforcement, court system, juvenile justice and community-based organization (CBO) partnerships that are key to targeting those youth most at-risk of committing or being a victim of crime or violence.  As Mayor, Vince will also convene a team of advisors to assess the needs of at-risk youth in the District to determine how best to coordinate the services for this population.

Provide meaningful vocational and technical training in the District’s corrections system.  Because the District houses only misdemeanants and those held pending trial or transfer to another penal institution, inmate training and education in the D.C. jail have been sorely neglected.  Vince Gray’s Administration will not make this mistake.  The Williams Administration successfully innovated improvement of healthcare in the D.C. jail by ensuring that healthcare in the jail and in the community was connected seamlessly.  This fostered better quality and an improved continuum of care for people stuck in a cycle of being in and out of jail.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will use a similar approach to connect vocational training programs between inside and outside of the D.C. Jail to ensure that people are given a means to escape the revolving door of recidivism.

Strengthen relationships with DC Superior Court and Court Social Services.  On any given day, over two-thirds of the youth involved in the juvenile justice system are being served by the federally funded and controlled Court Social Services (CSS).  This agency is responsible for over 1,700 youth annually who are placed on probation under court supervision or securely detained at the Youth Services Center pre-adjudication.  Too often, the poor flow of information between CSS, MPD, DYRS, and community organizations allows for youth to fall between the cracks and to engage in further criminal behavior.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will direct the District’s to engage the D.C. Superior Court and Court Social Services and develop new information sharing and collaborative work protocols. 

Elevate Community Policing Priorities

Metropolitan Police Department officers should be a part of this city and its neighborhoods.  Instead of merely talking about community policing, Mayor Gray will take concrete steps to build permanent working relationships with police officers and the communities they serve.  Vince will help make MPD the agency it should be, through a variety of initiatives that will improve crime-fighting strategies, attract high-caliber candidates, reward hard-working officers, and improve retention.

Vince will eliminate the District’s dependency on arrests as the solution to crime.  The cornerstone to a successful anti-crime strategy involves education, community policing, consistent enforcement, social services, and the certainty of punishment.

The Department must address deployment and resource issues so that officers on patrol have the tools to be effective and efficient and are visible to the community.  Under Vince Gray’s leadership, the District will  develop long-term solutions to its recruitment and retention of officers so that there will be a sufficient number of officers to patrol effectively.

District residents and business owners want a police department that is engaged in their daily lives.  Vince Gray will set the tone that community policing doesn’t mean driving through a neighborhood with the windows rolled up – it means having police officers weave themselves into the fabric of the community through long-term involvement in the community.  Providing increased incentives for community-police interaction, and promoting a commitment to the community in which the officer serves, will be an important part of building a patrol-based, community-oriented police force.

As Mayor, Vince Gray will:

Redefine Community Policing. 
The community policing “strategy” that our city has pursued to date has placed undue emphasis on increased visibility, but much of the visibility has been superficial.  We cannot be satisfied with gimmicky efforts to increase visibility, such as flashing police car lights.  Criminals know that all they have to do is wait out the show of force so they can get back to their “work.”  True community policing requires that police and all members of the community work together, on a deep level, to reduce crime.

The Gray Administration would implement a number of initiatives to develop the kind of community policing we need in the District of Columbia:

Vince Gray will ensure that those police officers who are currently serving in assignments that can be effectively transitioned to civilian responsibility are reassigned to patrol assignments.  Currently, more than 200 police officers are serving in administrative assignments that can be handled by civilian employees.  By backfilling many of these positions with civilian employees, more officers will be available for community policing patrol duties.

Develop “Home Grown” Public Safety Employees and increase the number of police officers living in the District of Columbia.  The District benefits when its public safety employees are District residents.  Having our public safety workforce personally vested in the District will foster community relationships, enable true community policing, improve retention rates, keep taxpayer dollars home, and improve the standard of living for all.  Unfortunately, currently only 19% of the District’s police officers live in the city.  That’s way too low.  Getting police officers to live in the District improves public safety at the same time that it creates economic benefits for the City.  But we can’t mandate that police officers live in the District – doing so has to be attractive and affordable to our officers so they choose the District over other places.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will work to increase the number of police officers living in the District by the end of his first term.  He will develop workforce housing initiatives which will induce police officers to move into the District.  He’ll explore the wide range of options, including tax breaks and housing subsidies.  And he will establish and promote cadet programs that are based on educational partnerships that create a career path for our young people to enter public safety services.

Stabilize the Public Safety Employees Workforce.  The city spends millions of dollars on the recruiting and training public safety employees only to lose many of these employees to neighboring jurisdictions.  This is the result of many factors such as a failure to adopt shift schedules that appeal to more workers and lack of competitive pay and benefits as compared to nearby jurisdictions.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will task the Deputy Mayor with evaluating the problem of poor retention and developing better tools for retaining all of our public safety workforce (police, firefighters, paramedics, etc.).

Create a meaningful career advancement ladder for officers who wish to stay in patrol duties.  Police officers begin their careers in patrol, and many remain in patrol a long time.  However, personal aspirations or the need to earn more money can create an incentive for patrol officers to seek promotion or move to a specialized assignment, meaning that too often communities lose excellent community police officers.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will initiate programs and policies to encourage police officers to remain as patrol officers and become a permanent part of the neighborhoods they serve.  Recognizing that police officers do have career considerations and decisions to make, Vince will work to create a new career path in the Department based on community service and interaction.  These policies and programs will not only develop better community relations, but will help increase police presence.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will:

  • Provide pay incentives for officers who choose to remain in patrol; and live within the District of Columbia;
  • Provide housing incentives for patrol officers that will allow them to live and work in the same patrol service area; and
  • Create new incentives for residential development projects to include workforce housing for police officers.

Elevate the importance of community outreach positions at MPD.  A central point of contact for both police officers and civilians must be established in each police district.  This individual will be a police captain who will be accountable to the community and to the Department for designing, implementing, and administering police services for the community.  The Department will delegate substantial authority to the districts, based on the recognition that different areas of the city have different needs.  This individual will be responsible for interactions with residents, activists, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, youth groups, faith-based organizations, grass-roots advocacy groups, non-profits, business, and city agencies other than MPD.  Whereas in the past, community outreach positions were given to lower-level supervisors, under Vince Gray’s leadership, being an effective community services official will be viewed as a prestigious position, and community service skills will be a requirement for career advancement.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will direct the MPD to appoint this type of high-level point of contact in each community.

Create the One City Forward Initiative. This initiative will take off where Mayor Williams’ Neighborhood Action initiative left off by bringing together police and fire/EMS with front line workers from other agencies to remediate persistent problem areas.   Many issues in neighborhoods cannot be solved by any one agency and coordinated approaches are necessary to address intractable problems.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will create and launch Community and Police Neighborhood Problem Solving Meetings that will involve Community residents and neighborhood police officers in determining the policing priorities for local neighborhoods.  These meetings will focus on using citizen input to develop specific strategies to address the neighborhood crime concerns and order maintenance concerns identified by residents and involve community members, neighborhood services staff members and community police officers to effectively address the specific crime and order maintenance problems in the community with specific action plans.  The neighborhood action plans will be folded into the Neighborhood Services program as part of the One City Forward initiative.  Neighborhood Services staff will engage residents in neighborhoods to determine needs and opportunities in planning exercises and in creating neighborhood service action plans.  Neighborhood Service plans will fold into a citywide citizen summit that will provide a public voice in determining government priorities then tailored to specific communities and neighborhoods. 

Provide the community with transparency regarding deployment.  If we are truly to engage the community in keeping neighborhoods safe, there needs to be a level of transparency greater than what we’re seeing now.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will make sure that MPD openly discusses its deployment decisions and strategies with neighborhood and community groups in order to address deficiencies and avoid complaints and misunderstandings (when such discussion will not jeopardize ongoing investigations).  MPD will not engage in tactics such as the now-infamous quarantine of the Trinidad neighborhood without significant engagement with the community and the District will not violate the Constitution in any of its crime fighting strategies.

Encourage community participation in crime-solving.  In some areas of the city, residents’ reluctance to cooperate with the police facilitates criminal activity.  With true community policing that develops real relationships in the neighborhoods, we can begin to address this problem.  This requires an understanding, however, that community policing is more than the MPD simply sending an officer once a month to recite crime statistics at a community meeting.  True community policing means institutionalizing a “philosophy” that is incorporated throughout the Agency, recognizing that all aspects of police operations must understand that the community is the critical partner of police operations.  All aspects of the police agency must work with the community to identify and address the crime and disorder issues that are found in different communities throughout the District of Columbia.  This approach focuses on a full community policing approach that incorporates problem solving, visibility, community involvement, community trust and respect and crime reduction.  Having officers continually interacting with the community to devise order maintenance and crime control strategies that are based on and leverage the community’s deep involvement in addressing root causes of crime and disorder.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will ensure that the city does a better job of (i) educating the public on the importance of their assistance; (ii) ensuring that information lines are properly staffed and that the representatives receiving information are professional and supportive; and (iii) widely publicizing successes, thereby demonstrating the effectiveness of police-community cooperation.  As Mayor, Vince Gray and the Chief of Police won’t just be in neighborhoods for photo opportunities and sound bites at the scene of major crimes, but rather for sustained, meaningful involvement with the community.

Create an emphasis on controlling vehicle theft.  Auto theft is a community issue.  It creates a sense of disorder in communities, and it most adversely affects our poorest citizens.  When someone’s car is stolen, it becomes more difficult (or even impossible) to get to work.  The District of Columbia has the highest auto theft rate in the region.  The current Mayor has systematically disassembled the MPD’s auto theft units and has failed to appoint a Council-mandated and funded Vehicle Theft Prevention Commission.  Vince Gray knows that auto theft is a “gateway crime,” and that addressing auto theft pays dividends because people involved in auto theft are often involved in other crimes.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will resurrect the Washington Area Vehicle Enforcement (WAVE) team, a cross-jurisdictional initiative to combat vehicle theft.  He will ensure that detectives with a passion for working on auto theft cases are assigned to the auto theft squad.  And, he will appoint members of the Vehicle Theft Prevention Commission – something the current Mayor has steadfastly refused to do – so that this serious crime will have a voice with high-level policymakers.

Increase Transparency and Greater Public Oversight of Police Operations.
Real community policing depends on trust between the community and the police department.  Transparency, accountability, and oversight of Department matters, including accurate reporting of staffing and resource allocation are necessary to build trust.  Unfortunately, Mayor Fenty’s war on transparency has at times spilled over into the MPD, casting a shadow over the hard work of our front-line officers, and straining the relationship between the community and MPD.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will work to increase transparency and accountability at MPD.

Improve and Professionalize Investigations.
The closure of a case is based on teamwork. To improve the process, all parties – the police, prosecutors, investigators, and forensic technicians – must work as a team.  Under a Gray Administration, greater efforts will be made to ensure that all parties in an investigation will understand their roles, and receive support in order to close cases.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will: ensure that the Police Department provides forensic technicians with the resources to effectively analyze and evaluate forensic evidence and ensure that processing meets forensic industry standards.  These efforts will produce increased investigative leads resulting in investigations being closed in a more timely manner.  These efforts will also lead to improved case coordination, information sharing and increased prosecution of criminal offenders.

End redeployment of all investigative personnel.  Currently, the Department regularly “redeploys” investigators and other non-patrol personnel to patrol duties in an effort to bolster its patrol presence.  While this may seem like a good idea, what it really means is that the continuity and currency of investigations suffers greatly for a short-term increase in the visibility of uniformed personnel.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will end the practice of redeploying detectives and other investigative personnel and support staff, enabling them to devote their full attention to investigating and closing cases.

Make sure detectives have manageable caseloads.  The number of caseloads assigned to a detective should be based upon the type of cases the detective or investigator is working and should take into account the complexity of cases in general or any particular case.  For example, a burglary detective typically should have more cases than a homicide detective, but a complex burglary ring case could consume enormous resources and require adjustment to the normally expected caseloads.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will work with the police chief to develop fair guidelines for setting maximum caseloads.

Track the progress of a case from arrest until final disposition.  Using only arrests as a metric does not make sense and contributes to a lack of follow-up within the Department. The executive, the legislature, and the public need to know how and if the criminal justice system is working, and if not, why.  The components of the system, the police, prosecutors, and judges, need to be monitored and held accountable if they fail, individually or systemically, to uphold their roles.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will open up the criminal justice system to continuous examination and create an environment of professional and individual responsibility for police officers, prosecutors, and judges.  By using existing databases to track and document the status of each case throughout the process, from charging to final disposition; the effectiveness of the judicial system will be more open to review and evaluation.  This will allow for the Mayor to monitor not only the system and its components, but also the effectiveness of each criminal statute. 

Support Strategies for Professionalizing the Workforce and Improving Retention.
As Mayor, Vince Gray will:

Refocus on training standards.  While our police officers are among the most dedicated public servants in the District, we need to ensure that their training and education is an ongoing process.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will require the Department to design and implement new training, mentoring, and education standards for all newly promoted officials, including, but not limited to:

  • Creation of training for sergeants, lieutenants, and captains – positions that would be responsible for guiding people newly promoted into those ranks through the actual practical application of duties and responsibilities of those positions;
  • Specific written descriptions of duties and responsibilities; and
  • Specific training and vocational goals and standards.

Expand educational opportunities for officers.  Education, and access to education, will become a fundamental part of the District's employment culture.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will:

  • Work with the Department to expand its tuition reimbursement program and create tuition incentives for incoming and current officers.  The Department would not only have the benefit of the member’s services while they were in school, but would also have the benefits of that officer’s education after graduation.  Such incentives would create an environment where education was valued and sought.  In addition, it would build a Department and a culture that created long-lasting loyalties and commitment by its members.
  • Reach out to area colleges and universities to build partnerships and to help reduce tuition for government employees.  Prior to the Fenty administration, the Police Officers Standards and Training Board (POST) and the police union had begun working with the Consortium of Universities to negotiate special reduced tuition rates for police officers with District of Columbia universities. Those efforts did not reach fruition due to the Mayor Fenty's failure to appoint members to the POST, despite statutory requirements that he do so.  Vince Gray would resurrect those efforts and find a way to increase the education and skills of government employees at reduced costs.

Crack Down on Violent Offenders And Create Meaningful Rehabilitation Opportunities

We need to find a way to ensure that the next generation of Washingtonians has an opportunity to grow up without being victimized or initiated into a culture of violence.  They deserve an opportunity for schools and social programs to make a positive impact on their lives, so it is important that they be able to live and play safely without the fear of gun violence.  Getting tough on violent offenders is an important part of establishing that sense of security, but it needs to be coupled with an ability to rehabilitate and rebuild the lives of offenders who truly want to change their lives.

As Mayor, Vince Gray will
Establish and manage a permanent gun task force.  One of Vince Gray’s top priorities in public safety is addressing the scourge of guns in the District, and bringing all of the government’s resources together to comprehensively address the District’s problem with gun violence.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will task the Deputy Mayor with presiding over a monthly gun task force with participation from key figures in the community.  This caucus will pull together representatives from the entire continuum – education, job training, employment opportunities, social services, police, prosecutors, parole and probation, and incarceration – into one functioning body the sole purpose of which will be to stem gun violence.  The agenda for these meetings will be informed by public comments from private citizens, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, and public safety organizations.  Crime rates, inmate population, ex-offender employment, jobs, education – these issues will all have one voice.  Gun violence will no longer be tolerated and ignored.

Rehabilitation and Reentry Programs that Work.
Over 50,000 current residents of the District have been involved with the criminal justice system.  Assisting these offenders in successful reintegration into our neighborhoods is more than smart – it is essential if we expect ex-offenders to become productive, law-abiding members of our community.  Our city has an outstanding pretrial services program in the country operated by the federal government.  However, there is not an equivalent, intensive program for those who have been convicted of crimes and are out on probation/parole or are reentering our communities after incarceration.  Vince Gray will ensure the availability of opportunities for ex-offenders who want to change the trajectory of their lives.   As Mayor, he will ensure that ex-offenders are included in DOES job training programs to develop work skills that will assist with the successful re-entry into the community.  In addition, ex-offenders will be considered for vocational training and additional educational skill development to assit in the development of their employment opportunities:

Provide real job training and employment opportunities for ex-offenders.  Vince Gray knows that ex-offenders, especially those with felony convictions, face extraordinary challenges to gaining meaningful employment.  Many job readiness and training programs will not accept offenders convicted of certain crimes – even if there are no public safety concerns.  Too many employers continue to discriminate against ex-offenders.  And for many people, huge arrearages of child support prove to be a major disincentive to legitimate work.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will connect ex-offenders to existing job training and workforce development opportunities, in particular, at the Community College of the District of Columbia.

Coordinate supervision and services for ex-offenders.  One of the biggest challenges to ensuring the accountability of offenders in (or reentering) the community is that the District’s corrections agencies, prosecutor’s office, and court system all fall under the purview of the federal government, making it increasingly difficult for local law enforcement and local service providers to coordinate much needed supervision of, and services to, this population.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will work to bring together local and federal agencies to help streamline their work and ensure that critical services are available, important supervision is provided and duplication of efforts is minimized.  He will draft memoranda of understanding by and between the federal and local government agencies to ensure that each works together in ensuring the accountability of, and provision of services to, offenders.

Reignite Stalled Emergency Medical Services Reform

It can be stressful and upsetting when a person is in need of emergency medical care.  The difficulty of this situation should not be compounded by doubts surrounding the responsiveness and quality of care provided by the District’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (FEMS).  But with frequent very public failures appearing in the news, District residents remain concerned about the quality of emergency medical services in the District of Columbia.  While reform was initiated following the tragic death of David Rosenbaum, and recommendations were issued by the Task Force on Emergency Medical Services in 2007, efforts to reform and improve these services have stalled.  Vince Gray knows how essential it is that emergency medical services be world-class, and that residents should not have lingering questions about the quality of pre-hospital care in the District.

As Mayor, Vince Gray will:

Reignite stalled reform of emergency medical services and implement remaining Task Force recommendations.  The tragic death of David Rosenbaum in January 2006 highlighted critical faults within the District’s emergency medical services (EMS) system.  The Task Force on Emergency Medical Services (Task Force) empanelled to create recommendations for improvement issued recommendations in September 2007.  Nearly three years on, and several recommendations have yet to be realized with efforts to reform EMS seeming to have stalled.  Further, several recent, public failures illustrate the need for greater attention being given to reform.  The Gray Administration will give reform of EMS the attention it very much needs and deserves.  In order to ensure the District’s EMS is world-class, Vince Gray will:

  • Reconstitute the Task Force on Emergency Medical Services to review the agency’s progress, revise – if necessary – recommendations, and create a roadmap to reform.  The intent of the Task Force was to recommend dramatic change to improve emergency service delivery.  FEMS delay in instituting these changes, and continued errors eroding the public’s confidence in EMS, show that the work of the Task Force is not complete.  Reconstituting this body will ensure a thorough, and more objective, review of the agency’s performance and what needs to be done going forward.  Placing the public spotlight on this issue will also ensure that changes to service delivery are made.  Reforming EMS takes more than admitting errors were made and terminating personnel involved.
  • Demand FEMS management develop a plan, and show progress starting day 1, to complete long-lingering Task Force recommendations for reform.  The Executive cannot continue to make excuses about the failure to deliver on the Task Force’s recommendations.  Many of the central issues addressed by the Task Force have languished for the past three years, such as the delay in transitioning pay and benefits parity between single-role and dual-role providers.  Though the Council has enabled this through legislation, the current Administration continues to drag its feet on this core issue of reform.  FEMS will be required, starting on day one of Mayor Gray’s term, to show progress towards implementation of remaining recommendations.

Ensure strong medical direction within FEMS by clarifying the role of Medical Director within the agency and strengthening the position’s independence.  World-class pre-hospital care requires strong medical direction.  In FEMS, where the culture of the agency is strongly linked with fire suppression, this also requires leadership to elevate the role and stress the importance of emergency medical services within the agency.  Under the current Administration, the role of EMS has been subjugated and efforts to institute strong medical direction stifled.  As Mayor, Vince Gray will:     

  • Appoint a strong, independent Medical Director and ensure the resources and support to bring about true reform to EMS.  The Fenty Administration is now on its third Medical Director, with the current individual only serving on an interim basis.  Further, with eight months having passed since the previous Medical Director left District service the Mayor has yet to nominate what would be the fourth Medical Director in four years.  With such a short average length of service it is impossible for any Medical Director to gain an understanding of the District’s EMS, much less institute meaningful reform.  As a result, it is impossible for an occupant of the position to remain in such a frustrating and stifling environment. 
  • Clarify the role of the Medical Director within the FEMS organizational structure.  While the Medical Director holds the rank of Assistant Fire Chief, he or she is appointed by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the Council and may only be removed by the Mayor.  The current Administration has not given this position the authority and autonomy necessary to ensure quality care.  The Medical Director must have control over all medical decision-making without her/his efforts being subverted by other interests in the Department.  Only when the role of the Medical Director is made clear to agency leadership, as well as asserting that the Medical Director has the strong backing of the Executive, can that individual work aggressively to improve the quality of care within the District.
  • Develop strong protocols for pre-hospital care and ensure through aggressive oversight that those protocols are followed.  Too often we hear from FEMS in response to tragic mishandling of medical services that protocols were, supposedly, in place, but were not followed.  Providing clarity with regard to the responsibilities of front-line workers, and aggressively reviewing the operations of EMS response, will ensure that preventable tragedies are minimized, if not eliminated.

Institute medical quality controls within FEMS and aggressively audit medical service.  To ensure reform is on the right track, and restore public confidence in EMS delivery, medical quality controls must be put in place and continuous review of medical service must be conducted.  Medical protocols in the District must surpass national standards.  And District government, as well as the public, must be able to assess the delivery of emergency medical care against required controls and benchmarks for improvement.  Review of such information will enable the government and other stakeholders to gain a better picture of the quality of care and see what is being done to improve emergency medical services.  This will also enable FEMS to develop necessary changes to policy and determine training needs.  Furthermore, it will enable stakeholders to develop recommendations to strengthen service delivery.   

A full picture of what resources, monetary or otherwise, are being directed to EMS is also essential to making these services world-class.  While the Council has directed that a detailed explanation of financial resources be provided in the Mayor’s budget proposal, the Fenty Administration has ignored this directive, refusing to allow public inspection of such details.  It is imperative that FEMS regularly report information on costs and other expenditures related to EMS.  As this agency – with the apparent consent of Mayor Fenty – overspends its annual budget authority by millions of dollars, continuous auditing of expenditures is necessary to ensure that funding dedicated to EMS reform is not reprogrammed to other, unbudgeted and unapproved, expenditures within the agency.  This is important not only for EMS, but for the multitude of services provided by the agency.  While the current Executive has failed to reign in the overspending by FEMS that occurs year after year, strong oversight and controls of the FEMS’ budget is necessary to ensure funding is used for improved medical services, but also to ensure that resources are available for fire suppression and the adequate training and equipment for our front-line emergency responders in this agency. 

Only by requiring such reporting by FEMS can we ensure that adequate resources are being directed toward EMS.   Only by making this information available for public inspection can we restore public confidence in the delivery of pre-hospital emergency medical care.

Collaborate with front-line workers within FEMS to improve quality and delivery of both fire suppression and emergency medical services.  Failing to work collaboratively with front-line emergency responders and their labor representatives serves no legitimate purpose and is an inexcusable and unnecessary provocation of the men and women that risk their lives for the residents of the District of Columbia.  With increasing regularity over the past four years, government employees – particularly in the public safety cluster – have appeared before the Council frustrated by policies and practices which alienate the District’s workforce.  Furthermore, as execution of union contracts continues to be delayed by the Fenty Administration, those who risk their lives in emergency situations are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.

Working with those on the front-lines, day in and day out, can improve morale among the workforce.  It can also help to contribute to the development of better policies and practices, ones that are educated by the knowledge and experiences of those who operate in the field every day.  Working cooperatively we can achieve much more, as many in government service are anxious to contribute to positive developments in operations and service delivery.  There is nothing to be gained from treating this offer to help with antagonism.  Making the personnel who perform the duties so necessary to our continued safety a full partner in our efforts will ensure a safer more pleasant place to live, work, and play.  There must be transparency, collaboration, and accountability to make FEMS a national model.

Reinstitute the Mayor's EMS Advisory Committee (EMSAC).  This vital committee, established in the law and composed of medical practitioners and citizens with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, will help ensure the transparency, collaboration, and accountability needed to oversee the District's EMS system. 

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