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.

Read More "Is Keeping AHOD Worth a $3M Budget Hit?" »

Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to a slightly soggy Freedom Friday!

"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.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: RIP, AHOD; You Won’t Be Missed" »

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?

Read More "The Breakdown From The Lastest AHOD: 85 Cases Tossed" »

Earlier this week, I asked the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Office of Attorney General for a breakdown of the types of arrests made from this past weekend's All Hands On Deck initiative. The somewhat controversial program basically has the entire D.C. Police Department hitting city streets and, you know, fighting crime. Last weekend produced 377 arrests.

We heard reports that cyclists were getting ticketed. One colleague told me that his neighbor got stung with a drinking-in-public arrest. The evidence against him: an empty cup that at one point had booze in it. His case was tossed.

So what of 377 arrests were for real stuff? It appears that D.C. Police made a good amount of solid cases. You be the judge!

Read More "A Partial Breakdown Of All Hands On Deck Arrests" »

Did the police get all handsy with you this weekend? During the past three days, the D.C. Police launched another one of its All-Hands-On-Deck efforts in which all available officers were required to work a patrol beat. I saw the police respond in force to several little scenes---but the buzz going around centered on police apparently stopping and ticketing cyclists.

Read More "Weekend Police Roundup: Bikes, General Logan, Shootings" »

The D.C. Police have re-launched its All-Hands-On-Deck program for the weekend. It started today at 6 a.m. So what does this mean? It means that every available officer will be on patrol. Cheap joke: Expect longer lines at 7-11! Cheap publicity: According to WJLA: "The initiative is a continuation of the initiative that began last year with five separate All Hands events. Taken together, the five policing drives in 2008 netted more than 2,300 arrests."

No details were given on the nature of those arrests. The FOP has called the initiative a drain on resources and a costly p.r. move. And Upset The Setup has questioned the program's effectiveness.