Comments on DC Home Rule almost had... the FBI picking the police chief - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by Jacob

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:23:23 EDT

"amazingly, feared that a popularly elected leader representing the people of DC might not actually be in favor of law and order."

How could anyone think such a thing? I mean it's been months since the last time a DC elected official was indicted.

Comment by Marian Berry

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:07:41 EDT

...a popularly elected leader representing the people of DC might not actually be in favor of law and order.

That was Coleman Young's position in Detroit, and we see how that worked out.

Comment by Thomas

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 11:22:37 EDT

They may have been on to something. With a chief appointed by a politician, and whose job security depends on politics, it's easy for politics to affect policing to a point of ineffectivity (deploying resources for PR like All Hands On Deck rather than for initiatives that reduce crime). And, gives incentive for the police to monkey with crime stats: MPD took down their public crime map recently because the map's real data showed higher crime than MPD's massaged/official data claiming crime is down.

Comment by charlie

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 08:16:43 EDT

Given that we've seen the FBI taking out a sitting president and CIA director, I am not sure which is more rogue -- the DC goverment or the FBI.

Comment by Turnip

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 07:10:45 EDT

The MPD's enthusiasm for motorcades and Pershing-Park, Ivy-City operations shows that the threat of being replaced by a federal force still inspires.

Comment by John Muller

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:11:28 EDT

Yeomen scholarly work, David. This is great stuff. Thank you for sharing.

Comment by Dizzy

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:35:03 EDT

As opposed to now, when we have the U.S. Attorney picking the mayor, the council chair, the Ward 5 CM...

Comment by Scoot

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:02:36 EDT

Others, amazingly, feared that a popularly elected leader representing the people of DC might not actually be in favor of law and order.

Given the storied history of our political leadership, that doesn't sound so amazing.