Yesterday, Kristopher Baumann won another two-year term as Chairman of the FOP/MPD Labor Committee.This will be his third term playing the sharpest thorn in the side of police brass. The preliminary vote tally shows that the rank and file more than approve of Baumann's work. Out of the 1800 or so that voted, Baumann received a little over 1000 votes.

Initially, Baumann faced three challengers; one candidate dropped out shortly before the election. The election was not without controversy. The Examiner's Harry Jaffe had reported earlier this month that Baumann's fliers had been repeatedly swiped from police department walls.

"There were issues where our campaign materials were constantly being removed from police facilities throughout D.C. especially headquarters," Baumann tells City Desk. "The posters for the other candidates were not removed. There were anonymous fliers attacking me."

Baumann says that the department refused his request to investigate the matter.

Baumann has done much to piss off Chief Lanier and Co. And it's a safe bet that he's not received an Evite to Peter Nickles' horse farm in Virginia. He's successfully joined the fight against the police checkpoints and threw up a roadblock to Lanier's All Hands On Deck gimmick.

There's still plenty of  pending litigation on Baumann's docket from FOIA requests to whistleblower cases to an unsettled union contract. "I think there's a lot of unfinished business," he says.

"What this department needs is sunlight," Baumann, 42, explains. "Look at Pershing Park. That is a disgrace. That is a stain on the police department."

Still, Baumann says the union job isn't the job he really wants. "I just want to go back to being a police officer, but what kind of police officer would I be if I saw all these problems and did nothing about it?"

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

The D.C. Police Department's All-Hands-On-Deck program ended the year with a whimper. The program was such a bust that the last AHOD weekend didn't even produce a press release touting huge arrest numbers! The reason? This final AHOD took place during the weekend of the big snow storm. Maybe Chief Cathy Lanier should have canceled her morale buster.

The arrest numbers are so low that I wasn't even sure AHOD actually happened. Was there an AHOD, I ask FOP Chief Kristopher Baumann. His reply: "Yes as far as I know." [The department's press office assures that the program did in fact take place during the snowy weekend].

The program has been touted as either a publicity stunt or a crime fighting tool. Baumann, a longtime AHOD hater, isn't sure either reason was served by this last effort.

"I don't know how either one of those is satisfied during the snow storm," Baumann says.

Check out the sad arrest numbers after the jump.

The U.S. Attorney's Office passed on a breakdown of the AHOD arrests. Keep in mind that the Office of the Attorney General would handle other, more minor crimes and is not included in these numbers.

For December 18, there were 14 felony arrests, 34 misdemeanor arrests, nine fugitive busts, and 16 cases that were no papered (meaning tossed out).

On December 19, there were two felony arrests, five misdemeanors, 16 cases no papered, and three fugitive busts.

On December 21, police made 25 felony arrests, 5 fugitive busts, 41 misdemeanor arrests, and had 15 cases no papered.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Yesterday, an arbitrator ruled that the D.C. police department's "All Hands on Deck" initiative violated the officers' contract and must be stopped. Chief Cathy L. Lanier promptly announced that the show must go on, indicating her intention to continue with AHOD weekends scheduled for November and December.

At this point, one cannot be surprised by the city opting for a take-no-prisoners strategy toward litigation. That's par for the course under bulldog Attorney General Peter J. Nickles.

But the decision to continue with AHODs during the appeal process stands to incur tremendous costs to the District in a time when city budgeting is under immense pressures. And not just in legal fees: In his decision yesterday, arbitrator John C. Truesdale awarded overtime pay to officers who have participated in this year's AHODs.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation provided by the police union indicates that overtime for each AHOD weekend could reach $1.5 million. (That's an extra $17.50 per hour for the 3,600 sworn patrol officers making an average of $35 per hour working three extra eight-hour shifts.) The department declined to provide its own figures, though police spokesperson Traci Hughes does say "it is a substantial amount."

Hughes says that Lanier took the costs into account when deciding to continue the program. "All of the ramifications are being considered," she says.

Let's review those ramifications: Taking the union's numbers, the arbitrator's decision already means the city is potentially on the hook for $10.6 million in unbudgeted costs. And now, by vowing to continue with the two additional AHODs, Lanier is possibly drawing another $3 million from a police budget recently trimmed by the D.C. Council.

Certainly the city hopes to prevail on appeals to the Public Employee Relations Board and, if necessary, D.C. Superior Court. Success, however, is far from assured. Are AHOD's crimefighting and public relations benefits worth risking $3 million in taxpayer funds in the meantime?

LL asked At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson, who oversees the police budget, if the cops can afford that kind of money. "Sure, if we give up something else," he says, adding that "presumably everything else is what they need."

If the ruling is upheld, and the city's on the hook for $10 million or more in overtime, he says, "That's going to be a serious problem."

Mendelson says he's "not an AHOD hater," but questions the wisdom of continuing the program in light of the arbitration ruling: "I've never had much patience for Peter Nickles' strategy of pursuing an action that has been struck down assuming there is an appeal that he will win. So far the record of success is thin....Rather than just add to the cost out of stubbornness, Mr. Nickles ought to be a little more careful and counsel suspending the program pending the appeal."

Nickles did not immediately reply for a request for comment.

The police union chief, Kristopher Baumann, prefers to focus on concerns beyond the price tag: "It's not only fiscally irresponsible, but just think about the message it sends to citizens and criminals, that the police chief and the attorney general don't respect the rule of law."

"All Hands on Deck," Chief Cathy L. Lanier's unconstitutional excuse for setting up roadblocks and checkpoints, is done–but not because it violated the Fourth Amendment. No, AHOD is dead because "police union officials have long decried the AHODs as essentially a publicity stunt that generate goodwill for politicians at the expense of rank-and-file officers."

Christ almighty: "We'll stop this thing we're doing that's illegal, but only because the people we've asked to do it ARE TIRED OF DOING IT SO MUCH. " If you're disappointed that AHOD is kaput–and at least one of you is–then you obviously never had anything to hide and are probably an incredibly boring person.  The rest of us will be celebrating the return of our right to no unreasonable searches and seizures at an undisclosed location. ORWELLIAN SAPS ARE NOT INVITED.

ACORN workers did a bad, bad thing in Baltimore. Some folks at Big Government (another project by conservative maestro Andrew Breitbart) visited ACORN's offices posing as a pimp and prostitute in search of cheap housing for 13 El Salvadoran girls, who, the BG pair implied, would be underage prostitutes. ACORN had a lot of good ideas for them, including tax evasion. Check out the transcript.

Annnnnd a wingnut from Falls Church brought his shotgun to the Capitol during Obama's health care speech. Look, here's a message from one gun lover to another: We don't need this. "We" as in gun lovers, "we" as in emotionally neutral defenders of the Second Amendment, "we" as in the people who manage to detest big government without scaring other people. I don't think y'all represent the rise of the militia movement, I just think y'all are dumbasses. So cut it out and save that shottie for the gobbler in your backyard back.

The D.C. Police Department has heralded its latest All Hands On Deck weekend with a press release. This AHOD took place between the early morning hours of July 10 to the early morning hours of July 12. The all gambit produced 519 arrests and one closed homicide case.

As all AHOD scholars know the bulk number doesn't quite tell the story of what the officers really achieve during these weekends. More detailed breakdowns show that much of the arrests are ultimately tossed out by the U.S. Attorney's Office. We posted the numbers of previous AHODs here and here and here.

The latest numbers provided by the U.S. Attorneys' Office show a similar stack of flimsy arrests.

Here are the stats from the July 10 to July 12 AHOD via prosecutors:

July 10 Cases:

Felonies: 7

Misdemeanors: 48

Fugitive: 4

No papered cases: 22

July 11 Cases:

Felonies:  21

Misdemeanors: 41

No Papered cases: 38

Fugitive: 3

July 13 Cases:

Felonies: 20

Misdemeanors: 74

No Papered cases: 40

Fugitive: 7

Total cases tossed out: 100

Total felony cases: 48

Photo By Darrow Montgomery

The third D.C. Police All Hands on Deck effort recently took place at the end of June. The D.C. Police have not released any numbers on overall arrests. But they did put out a handy press release promoting the program which puts all available D.C. cops on patrol. Chief Lanier (pictured) loves AHOD.

The latest AHOD went from June 26 to 6 a.m. on June 28.

The U.S. Attorney's Office provided their own stats for AHOD-related arrests. These do not include the minor stuff handled by the Office of Attorney General. The stats still show a significant number of no-papered cases i.e. cases tossed out by prosecutors due to a lack of evidence.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office:

On June 26 there were 11 felony cases, 30 misdemeanor cases, seven fugitive cases, and 20 no-papered cases.

On June 27, there were 30 felony cases made, 42 misdemeanor cases, and a whopping 50 no-papered cases.

On June 29, there were 20 felony cases, 64 misdemeanor cases, 29 no-papered cases, and eight fugitive cases.

Total felony cases: 61 cases

Total no-papered cases: 99 cases.

Effectiveness of AHOD: That's a question for all of us. You can check on the results from the previous AHODs here and here.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Today, the D.C. Police Department announced the latest results of its All Hands On Deck effort which lasted from 6 a.m. on June 5 to 6 a.m. on June 7. For those unfamiliar with AHOD, the program just means that for a given weekend all available sworn officers are put on patrol. It's also one of Chief Cathy Lanier's big projects. This latest law enforcement ramp up netted 510 arrests. The arrests numbers are way up from the previous AHOD's 377 arrests.

But D.C. Police did not provide a breakdown of those arrests. They've just offered the bulk number.

Thankfully, the U.S. Attorney's Office just provided City Desk with a breakdown of cases filed—or not filed—during the June 5-June 7 time period. This does not include the various minor charges that would have been filed with the Office of Attorney General.

The numbers are up to your interpretation. Was this a good AHOD or a bad AHOD?

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office:

For June 5, there were eight felony cases, 36 misdemeanor cases, and four fugitive cases. Twenty-three cases were no papered meaning prosecutors declined to go forward with those cases.

For June 6, there were 13 felony cases, 54 misdemeanor cases, six fugitive cases and 32 cases that were no papered.

For June 8, there were 23 felony cases, 56 misdemeanor cases, six fugitive cases, and 30 cases that were no papered.

So this means that there were 85 citizens who got arrested, sat in a lockup or at the D.C. Jail, and waited through arraignment court on charges that were eventually thrown out.

The D.C. Police announced the results of the latest All-Hands-On-Deck effort from this past weekend. Drum roll please....

According to the department: Police officers made 377 arrests, recovered six firearms and seized more than $7,000 worth of drugs.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier seems almost defensive in the press release. Her canned response: "This was a successful AHOD. Despite the fact that we had significant violent crime reductions last year and that we currently have the lowest number of homicides year to date since the early 1980s, I will continue my commitment to put more officers on the street."

If crime is really that low, why even bother with AHOD? And could we have a breakdown of those 377 arrests? How many of those arrests were actually papered by prosecutors?