DC police see a shortage of officers this year

At a news conference Thursday, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier, D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser examine just a few of the assault rifles removed from city streets in recent weeks. (WTOP/Kristi King)
At a news conference Thursday, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier, D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser examine just a few of the assault rifles removed from city streets in recent weeks. (WTOP/Kristi King)
Last week, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Muriel Bowser held a news conference at police headquarters to announce several high profile arrests.  (WTOP/Kristi King)
Last week, Chief Lanier and Mayor Bowser held a news conference at police headquarters to announce several high profile arrests. (WTOP/Kristi King)
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At a news conference Thursday, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier, D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser examine just a few of the assault rifles removed from city streets in recent weeks. (WTOP/Kristi King)
Last week, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Muriel Bowser held a news conference at police headquarters to announce several high profile arrests.  (WTOP/Kristi King)

WASHINGTON — Crime rates tend to rise in the summer and D.C.’s police department is beginning this summer with fewer officers than it has had in more than a decade.

“We’ve been as high as 4,100 and as low as [the current] 3,750,” said D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier.

“This is the lowest number of officers we’ve had since 2004,” she added.

Several measures are helping the department cope, according to Lanier:

  • Civilians now perform some police duties to free up about 100 officers for the street.
  • Police functions transferred to the Department of Corrections freed up an additional 45 officers.
  • The department’s new records management system allowed 100 officers to return to street duty.

“It doesn’t solve the problem. It makes it less of a problem, but it’s still a problem,” Lanier said.

Last summer, when there was a spike in violent crimes, the D.C. police union complained about staffing issues related to retirements when there were 3,865 sworn officers.

Lanier says the department has been hiring at capacity — adding 300 new officers — in each of the past five years.

“Unless they want me to change the standards and hire less qualified applicants, we can’t go any higher than we’re going,” Lanier said. “We have some of the toughest standards in the country to be a police officer and I’m not going to change those.”

Kristi King

Kristi King is a veteran reporter who has been working in the WTOP newsroom since 1990. She covers everything from breaking news to consumer concerns and the latest medical developments.

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