OPINION: DC Police Union poll results paint a stark image of a metropolitan police department whose sworn law enforcement officers are preparing to depart the police force as police reform legislation seemingly hampers any attempts at law and order principles and protocols. As is the case in a growing list of cities whose cops are being abandoned and subjected to undeniable peril and misplaced disrespect stemming from the grotesque actions of a few bad apples, the DC establishment who have been feeding the ugly, anarchistic beast will likely have to fend for themselves…or wait until a demoralized and depleted cop shop can muster a uniform or two.
In a press release, the DC Police Union which “represents the 3,600 officers, detectives and sergeants of the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department” cited 71 percent of the DC police force is gearing to go elsewhere, even alluding to a change of careers [1].
DC Police Union Statement on Membership Survey regarding Emergency Bill. pic.twitter.com/JJS4MJhwXc [2]
— DC Police Union (@DCPoliceUnion) June 18, 2020 [3]
Perhaps not shocking in the least, other law enforcement agencies are experiencing the same issues and inherent results; the Atlanta police force [4] has been widely publicized recently after gobs of beat cops took sick time for purported pains in the backside—this, in response to the knee-jerk decision by Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard who imposed a litany of charges against now-former Atlanta policeman Garrett Rolfe. Rolfe’s colleagues believe his shooting of Rayshard Brooks was justified whereas the district attorney, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance [5] Bottoms and others are convinced he committed murder despite video exhibiting an American cop reacting in self-defense to thwart his own life’s peril.
Mayor Bottoms took to the media mics and admitted that Atlanta police morale was “down tenfold.” One can safely surmise it is demoralized elsewhere, certainly is in the DC jurisdiction, their poll citing “39% are considering leaving law enforcement altogether.”
As stated in their poll’s findings, the DC Police Union announced the following synopsis: “The [Metropolitan Police Department] MPD has been at the forefront of police reform for 20 years, Problems that exist in other cities do not exist here. The language in the emergency legislation completely degrades the rights and working conditions afforded to police officers in this city. This legislation will cause an exodus of our best police officers and make hiring and retaining qualified employees next to impossible.”
Given the chronic media attention paid this exact circumstance across the nation, it sounds as if the paragraph you just read would apply empirically, as myriad law enforcement agencies are not only pushed up against the wall but also to the exit door.
Regarding to an “emergency bill” legislating police reform measures, DC Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton expounded: “Many of our members have voiced that that Bill eliminates collective bargaining rights for employees, it makes it exceedingly more difficult to charge a suspect with assaulting a police officer, it changes body worn camera policy in such a way that it can no longer be used as an evidence collection tool, and it changes the language in use of force policy in the most utterly confusing way that even the Councilmembers could not figure out the intent or the impact of the language.”
As the substantive byline stands in the DC Police Union [6] poll, the “DC Council has abandoned the police!” Who can blame the exodus decision?
This opinion piece was written by Stephen Owsinski on June 20, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette [7] and is used by permission.
The opinions in this piece represent those of the author only, and not the website.