NEWS LOOSE LIPS
Cop, A Plea A to-do list for Robert Contee as he prepares to take the helm of the Metropolitan Police Department
recommended MPD publicly release its final investigative reports into those deadly incidents and any deadly incidents going forward. Michael Bromwich, who led the review, is encouraged by Contee’s willingness to implement his recommendations, including the release of internal use of force investigations. “But it bears watching,” he says. “Because they said they would implement a bunch of recommendations in 2016 and they didn’t. There needs to be continued oversight to ensure it goes beyond lip service.” Contee initially pledged to implement all of the auditor’s recommendations, but he has since backed away from that promise. In an interview this week, he says, “I’m not sure what all the obstacles are we need to overcome to get there,” but “my goal is to get to a ‘yes’ for serious uses of force, making sure the public has visibility in that.” Redacting the names of officers who are not involved is one question in his mind. He does not support releasing investigations of non-serious uses of force, like the use of pepper spray or a takedown that doesn’t result in injury.
Courtesy of MPD
Reestablish a specialized team to investigate uses of force. The Bromwich report also recommended MPD revive its Force Investigations Team with officers that specialize in use of force investigations. MPD merged the FIT with its Internal Affairs Bureau in 2012 after its caseload decreased. The report recommends MPD either reestablish the FIT or provide “intensive, specialized training to a select group of [internal affairs] investigators.” Contee says he’s already working to train officers specifically for use of force investigations
Robert Contee
ByMitch Ryals @MitchRyals Why the hell anyone would want to lead the Metropolitan Police Department, LL does not know. On any given day, D.C.’s police chief must juggle demands from the mayor, the D.C. Council, the department brass, rank-and-file officers, advocates, lawyers, judges, neighboring police agencies, reporters, and, most importantly, residents. Each of them have their own agenda and their priorities don’t always align. Homicides in D.C. are spiking this year; currently, the number of homicides is 34 percent higher than at this point in 2020. Last year, D.C. recorded a 16-year high in homicides. The Council decreased Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed police budget last year, and there is political will to reduce the size of the force going forward—against the department’s wishes. Lawsuits accuse MPD officers of using excessive force, perpetuating racial discrimination, trampling on civil rights, and withholding data. Those statistics on police stops, when finally pried loose following legal action, show that MPD officers stop and search Black people more than any other race or ethnicity, according to the ACLU of D.C.’s analysis.
A recent auditor’s report revealed the department has failed to adequately investigate its officers’ use of deadly force, calling into question MPD’s conclusions that officers’ actions were justified in some cases. Oh, and the entire country is in the midst of a reimagining of the role police play in a fair and just society. One of the loudest calls is for cutting police budgets to fund non police services. Yet, Robert Contee still wants the job. The 48-year-old, who grew up in the Carver Terrace neighborhood of Ward 5 and lives now in Ward 3, joined MPD as a cadet in 1989. He rose to the very top when Bowser nominated him to replace outgoing Chief Peter Newsham earlier this year. The D.C. Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety voted unanimously last week to move Contee’s nomination to the full Council. A final vote has not been scheduled but could take place as soon as April 20, according to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. In the meantime, stakeholders have laid out their priorities for the new chief in reports, public hearings, and interviews with LL over the past month. The most frequent demand is better transparency. While some believe the rot
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inside MPD is too deep for any one person to fix, others are cautiously optimistic about Contee. “I think that most of us feel encouraged by the way he has answered many of those questions, but it’s a whole other thing to put in practice,” says Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who chairs the public safety committee. “Implementing the answers to questions and the big ideas he has into action that residents feel on the street” is a major priority. What follows is a non-exhaustive to-do list for Contee, whose confirmation as D.C.’s top cop appears imminent. In a brief interview this week, Contee laid out his top two priorities. No. 1: Reduce violent crime. No. 2: Increase MPD’s engagement with the community. “We want to make positive investments in the community bank,” he says. “And the only way to do that, in addition to driving down crime, is to find opportunities to positively engage the community.” Release MPD’s internal investigations into uses of force. The Bromwich Group, commissioned by the Office of the D.C. Auditor to review police killings of four young Black men in 2018 and 2019,
Release disciplinary records. Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George is looking to introduce legislation later this year that would make police disciplinary records public. She notes that New York City began publishing similar records online after the state Legislature repealed a law that kept NYPD’s records sealed. Office of Police Complaints Director Michael Tobin also believes disciplinary records should be made public. Currently, OPC can only release sustained complaints in response to a Freedom of Information Act request if the requester first identifies the officer. “It would do great service to the police chief to support publishing all disciplinary data regarding the police department so the community can be aware of the disciplinary process and have a better understanding of what happens when a complaint is submitted and if an officer faces discipline,” he says. “It should not be a secret anymore.” Contee says he’s not in favor of releasing records of unsustained complaints out of concern for the impact it could have on an officer’s career and safety. But he’s open to a discussion about releasing other disciplinary records. “I’m doing a series of listening sessions and would want to have a discussion with the community about that, whether that’s of interest to the community as a whole,” he says. “And I’ll have to discuss it with the union. I don’t want
