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.

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.

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!

According to Channing Phillips, the spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office, here is its breakdown of cases so far (there may still be others left to prosecute). These figures do not include AG cases which are usually for extremely minor stuff like drinking in public; I have yet to hear back from the AG. Anyway, here are the serious cases:

On 4/24, we had 59 lockups.  Of the 59, 9 were no papered.  The breakdown of the remaining cases were as follows:

Misdemeanor cases: 18

Felony cases :    3

Domestic cases:   17

Outstanding bench warrant returns:  3

Fugitive from justice cases:  9

On 4/25, we had 98 lockups.  Of the 98, 11 were no papered. The breakdown of the remaining cases were as follows:

Misdemeanor cases: 37

Felony cases:    23

Domestic cases: 12

Outstanding bench warrant returns:    13

Fugitive from justice cases:  2

On 4/27, we had 122 lockups.  Of the 122, 34 were no papered. The breakdown of the remaining cases were as follows:

Misdemeanor cases: 41

Felony cases:      23

Domestic cases: 20

Outstanding bench warrant returns:  1

Fugitive from justice cases: 3

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.

On Sunday, a woman was found dead in her home. She was shot. Three other men were shot as well. The shootings look related. On Saturday night, there was a shooting at 14th and W. Crime must have been light in the Dupont Circle area as the ever-vigilant Borderstan last posted pictures of flowers from his garden.

And, well, the police had to deal with the IMF/World Bank jerks who vandalized those banks. Prince of Petworth spots some possible anti-General Logan graffiti that may more may not be related. But before everyone condemns those out-of-town kids, there seems to be some controversy surrounding protester-cop conflict at 20th and Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday. DCist noted the incident with a touch of sarcasm. The jokes are hard to resist.

But there are pictures that show a more inconclusive scene that begs the question: Why did the police turn on the marchers? This wasn't a Pershing Park ambush. But it's still worth thinking about.

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.