WASHINGTON — A survey of D.C. Police Union members finds they do not have confidence in Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
The union, using polling firm The Merriman River Group, surveyed its more than 3,600 members, asking them the following question: “Do you have confidence that Chief Cathy Lanier is able to properly manage the resources of the Metropolitan Police Department and keep the citizens safe?”
The union says 1,150 members responded, with 97.5 percent, or 1,122, answering “No.”
“This ‘No Confidence’ vote is a symbolic gesture of our member’s [sic] long-building desire for a new direction in policing in the District,” the union says in a news release.
Additionally, a survey of registered D.C. voters conducted by LJR Custom Strategies for the union found that Lanier has a positive approval rating of 60 percent.
Forty six percent said crime was their top concern, followed by the economy and jobs at 17 percent and education at 14 percent.
Lanier issued a statement Monday afternoon saying she will continue to make tough decisions to make D.C. safe.
“I am not interested in responding to or commenting on the anonymous online survey conducted by the Fraternal Order of Police. But I will defend the work of the members of this agency,” Lanier said in the statement.
“I will continue, as I have done in the past, to provide statistics and analysis of crime that are factual and can be verified as evidence that our members are extremely effective. ”
Mayor Muriel Bowser continues to support Lanier.
“After 25 years of policing D.C. streets, deploying officers and strategies, and building a force of highly qualified officers and leaders, in the good times and the tough times, too, I have every confidence in Chief Lanier,” Bowser said in a statement.
D.C. Police Union News Release on No Confidence Vote
