News Articles, 1995-1997
  News Articles, Main Page

Serious About Police Reform

A few months ago, a consultant's report was issued showing that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was in need of major revamping. Washingtonians had reason for skepticism: yet another report for the filing cabinets. Let me surprise you. This time things are different -- very different.

The report was the first step in a reorganization of the MPD that has already begun and is designed to get into full swing by mid- to late summer. The city is being divided into service areas staffed by permanent teams of officers who will target the sources of chronic crime: drugs, guns and gangs. The new strategy also will address public-order problems, such as public drinking, aggressive panhandling, illegal dumping and noise control violations.

The consultant's report confirmed what we sensed: We had become more geared toward bean-counting -- num\ber of arrests made, number of 911 calls responded to, number of reports filed -- than to performance -- reducing crime and disorder. The department had become overly centralized, bogged down in unnecessary routine and fragmented into too many specialized units. We were neglecting what should be the primary function of policing: solving problems on patrol.

After the consultant's report was released, as a temporary measure I put 400 more police officers on patrol and aimed them at high-crime targets. Crime in May was down 23 percent from a year ago, homicides down 40 percent for the same period. But there is much more to be done.

First, we are significantly increasing the number of officers on patrol on the city's streets. This is, of course, a standard response from police chiefs when citizens demand that more be done about crime. But assigning more officers to patrol without forethought -- throwing them at crime, so to speak -- seldom accomplishes much. The plan we have worked out, which draws heavily on advice gathered from those on the front lines of policing in the District, seeks to make the best use of the people we put on the streets.

Under the plan, the city is divided into 83 Police Service Areas (PSAs) that operate within the framework of the department's

seven patrol districts. Each PSA is served by a team made up of patrol officers, detectives and vice investigators. This gets personnel and authority away from specialized divisions and units to basic street-level police patrol teams, which provide 24-hour, seven-days-a-week coverage to a geographically manageable, neighborhood-based ar\ea.

Here are two essential features:

(1) Officers remain assigned to individual PSAs for at least 12 months so they can better know and serve specific neighborhoods.

(2) Team members sign a contract affirming their commitment to the neighborhood they serve. Both the long-term assignment and the signed contract are meant to reinforce the team members' sense of ownership and accountability to their PSA and community.

Another crucial accountability and management factor is that each team is led by a single PSA sergeant who has overall responsibility for police service within the unit. The PSA sergeant is required to develop a thorough knowledge of the area, and soon will be equipped with a beeper whose number will be provided to residents and business people in the PSA. Within reason and in nonemergency situations, citizens can beep their PSA sergeant to seek or provide information, volunteer for neighborhood anti-crime projects or register concerns.

Accompanying the reorganization of patrol is the application of a new strategic problem-solving approach to drugs, guns, gangs and disorder. The problem-solving approach is responsible for many of the crime-fighting success stories in other cities that you may have heard about.

Problem-solving operates by identifying the underlying cause of a cluster of criminal incidents, determining the best way to get at it, then making sure the plan works. It is aimed at the sources of chronic crime and disorder, whether they are homicides, neighborhood drug markets, street-corner prostitution or garbage-clogged alleys that suggest no one cares about conditions in a neighborhood.

The new approach means that the MPD no longer will spend all its patrol time responding to 911 calls and reacting after the fact to criminal incidents. With the significantly increased number of officers on the streets, the PSA teams will have the time and training to attack neighborhood crime and disorder through planning, analysis and skillful application of the best police practices developed throughout the nation.

Problem-solving encourages officers to use a variety of methods, not just arrests, to solve problems. These include using civil laws to control public nuisances, offensive behavior and conditions contributing to crime; attaching new conditions to parole and probation; issuing citations in lieu of arrests; and tracking repeat offenders. The message here is that not everyone has to be locked up every time for every offense. For example, civil action permanently closing down a nightclub known for persistent drug trafficking can be more effective than recurring police raids.

The transformation of the MPD will help to fulfill two personal goals of mine. The first is to give the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department an opportunity to do the best job they can on the task that is the essence of policing: combating crime and disorder and serving citizens at the neighborhood level. The second is to have every resident of the District of Columbia on a first-name basis with at least one member of the MPD.

Police and citizens are not a matter of us vs. them. It is a matter of we -- citizens and police -- working together to prevent crime, eliminate disorder and improve the quality of life for all who live, work and visit our nation's capital.

The writer is chief of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

The Washington Post Newspaper Homepage