Metropolitan Police Department: Hearing on Metropolitan Police Department Spending and Performance Review

On April 10, 2002, Chief Charles H. Ramsey delivered the following statement to the US House of Representations Committe on Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, the Honorable Joe Knollenberg, Chairman.

Chairman Knollenberg, Congresswoman Norton, other members of the Subcommittee, staff, and guests: Thank you for the opportunity today to present you with an update on the Metropolitan Police Department's efforts to improve public safety in the District of Columbia - in terms of both reducing neighborhood crime and enhancing our emergency preparedness.

The events of September 11th forever changed policing in urban America. The impact of those changes has been particularly acute here in our Nation's Capital and within the Metropolitan Police Department. One year ago, when I testified before this subcommittee, "homeland security" was a foreign concept for local police departments. Today, homeland security has, of necessity, been incorporated into our basic mission of serving and protecting.

I am very proud of how the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department have responded to the challenges of September 11th - both in the days immediately following the terrorist attacks, when our officers were called upon to work long hours helping to secure key installations in our city, and also in the weeks and months that have followed, as our Department developed and implemented new policies, procedures, technology and training to deal with any future attacks. While we certainly hope and pray that no such acts of terrorism ever strike our nation again, I am pleased to report to the subcommittee that the MPD is better prepared than ever.

Important developments in this area have included the creation of a new and expanded Emergency Response system within the MPD that I believe is quite compatible with the system recently announced by Homeland Security Director Ridge. Our system lets our members know the level of threat we face and what is expected of them at each level. With the leadership of Mayor Williams and the strong support of Congress, our Department has also procured new equipment to support our anti-terrorism preparations, and our training has been expanded. To ensure that our members know what to do - in the field, not just on paper - we have also conducted a number of mock exercises in recent weeks, and have learned a great deal about what works and what needs to be improved.

Finally, we have significantly upgraded the technological infrastructure to support both homeland security and neighborhood safety efforts. Mister Chairman, I know you have toured our Joint Operations Command Center at Police Headquarters. This facility - and the technology behind it - were critical on, and immediately after, September 11th. And the Center continues to provide access to the type of real-time information needed by the MPD and our law enforcement partners in this region in managing major events and times of heightened alert. For example, the Closed Circuit Television Network within our Command Center allows us to monitor critical areas without having to devote officers on the ground to this duty. While I cannot guarantee that we will not need officers at key installations in the future, right now there are no homeland security-related "details" that are taking officers away from their neighborhood patrols for this responsibility.

I believe we have come a very long way - in a very short, but challenging period of time - in enhancing the law enforcement portion of the District's emergency response plan. As successful as we have been in this area, the MPD's primary mission remains the security of our neighborhoods and the protection of our residents, workers and visitors from crime.