Metropolitan Police Department: Remarks from Public Hearings on Metropolitan Police Department E-Mail Matter

Prevention Steps
I want to conclude my testimony this evening by outlining some of the measures we have taken, both to prevent this type of inappropriate conduct from ever occurring again and, if it does, to catch violators quickly and decisively.

Concurrent with the start of this investigation, Assistant Chief Jordan instituted two immediate preventive measures. First, the Audit and Compliance Branch of his office is now conducting quarterly audits of MDC transmissions, looking for both general trends in MDC usage and any particular “red flags” that may arise. Second, OPR’s Office of Internal Affairs has begun conducting random integrity checks of individual MDC transmissions. We also added a log-on warning message to the MDCs themselves, so officers are aware of Department policies and the fact that all transmissions are recorded and reviewed. We are also looking into software that would filter out offensive or inappropriate language over the MDC network.

Finally, the Department has issued and distributed a new General Order — 302.09 — specifically on MDC usage and operations. While I believe that our existing orders (as well as our Code of Ethics, not to mention common sense) covered MDC transmissions in the past, this new General Order makes it crystal-clear how and when the devices are to be used. This new General Order has been incorporated into our MDC training as well.

These efforts appear to be yielding some positive results. Assistant Chief Jordan’s office analyzed MDC transmissions over the first three quarters of this calendar year. During the first quarter, only about one-third of the total transmissions were for records checks over the National Crime Information Center network; the other two-thirds represented car-to-car Talk Messages. In the second quarter, following the investigation and the initial preventive measures, those numbers were reversed: two-thirds of the inquiries were records checks, and just one-third Talk Messages. That basic breakdown continued through the third quarter evaluation as well.

I am not suggesting that all Talk Messages are somehow suspect or inappropriate. Being able to communicate car-to-car, in a secure environment that doesn’t involve talking over the radio, is an invaluable law enforcement tool. And Chief Ramsey has never contemplated removing this function from our MDC system. But the numbers do suggest that many of the car-to-car messages in the past involved superfluous conversations among members. Reducing this unnecessary traffic over the system should improve network performance and help prevent the transmission of inappropriate or offensive messages.

Our prevention efforts are not limited to just the narrow matter of MDC transmissions; rather, they encompass the broader issue of biased policing. In furthering these efforts, we are initiating a new biased policing project, with the assistance of the NAACP Civil Rights Task Force and other groups. This project will consider the whole gamut of issues surrounding biased policing, the perception of its practice, and the corresponding impact it has both internally within the MPD and externally in the community. The biased policing project will include a police-community task force and citizen surveys and focus groups that will help us analyze the perceptions and reality of biased policing, design data collection instruments and identify any new policies, procedures or resources that may be needed. This is an exciting project that will continue over the next 18 months.

In closing, I want to reinforce something Chief Ramsey has said throughout this inquiry: that the language and conduct displayed by a small minority of officers in no way reflect the professionalism and integrity of our Department as whole. The MPD is not a racist Department. We are not a sexist Department. We are not a homophobic Department. We are not a Department that engages in widespread biased policing of any type.

By the same token, we are not a Department that shies away from our responsibility to identify, investigate and root out misconduct among that small minority of members who may engage in such behavior. After all, it was our Department that uncovered this problem in the first place. It is our Department that has spearheaded probably the most wide-ranging internal investigation in our history. It is our Department that has implemented new policies and procedures to prevent this type of situation from occurring in the future. And it is our Department that is committed to retaining — and strengthening — the foundation of trust and respect that we have built with the community. With the help of this Commission and others, we are confident we will succeed.

Thank you again for the opportunity to present his statement. I would be happy to answer any questions.