There have been a number of shootings lately in Shaw. This has touched off a lot of worries on the part of community leaders that a gang war has started up. Councilmember Jim Graham dashed off a letter to D.C. Police  Chief Cathy Lanier and others concerning these recent events.

Read the letter after the jump.

Read More "Has A Gang War Started In Shaw? Graham Says Yes." »

Today, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused to hear the District's appeal on the legality of  D.C. police checkpoints. On July 10, a unanimous three-judge panel of that court ruled that the police checkpoints---which started in Trinidad---were unconstitutional.

The District's only recourse at this point is to take its case to the Supreme Court.

AG Peter Nickles tells City Desk: "I'm disappointed. We'll look at our options including a Supreme Court request....The D.C. Circuit has spoken and we'll take it from there."

In late August, the Examiner published a piece arguing that the District's low homicide rate might be due to the cooler-than-usual summer temps. The story was one of the dumbest crime stories we've ever read. Even D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier called the lower-temp theory "idiotic." But the story did at least provoke a little attention on the police department's stunning successes and the city's big drop in murders. When Lanier speculated that the city could see fewer than 100 homicides for the year, she wasn't laughed out of town. Of course, the District's perps did not cooperate.

As of today, there have been 106 homicides. At this point last year, there were 148 homicides. The plummeting homicide rate is still quite impressive. So why is the District experiencing such a huge drop?

Read More "Chief Lanier Deserves Credit For Drop In Homicides" »

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?" »

The Metropolitan Police Department's "All Hands on Deck" initiative violates the terms of officers' labor contract and must be ended, an arbitrator has ruled.

"AHODs," three-day periods during which all sworn police officers are required to work eight-hour patrol shifts, have been a favorite tool of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chief Cathy L. Lanier since 2007. They've credited the initiative with being at least partly responsible for record low levels of violent crime. But 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. The Fraternal Order of Police filed a grievance challenging the practice earlier this year.

In an opinion released today [PDF], arbitrator John C. Truesdale largely agreed with the union's arguments, ruling that the AHODs violated several terms of the police contract. He declined to take into account the policing value of the AHODs, calling them "apparently well received in the District of Columbia." But due to the contract violations, he ordered the department to rescind the 2009 AHOD order and pay time-and-a-half overtime to officers who participated in the six AHODs that have taken place this year.

Read More "No More ‘All Hands on Deck’ for D.C. Cops, Ruling Says" »

Late last week, I got an anonymous letter gently complaining about our coverage of the Pershing Park mess. A few times a week, we've posted critical pieces concerning the sloppy work of the OAG or pointed to discrepancies among D.C. Police personnel over how basic documents could either disappear (the running resume) or be tampered with (the radio dispatches containing gaps). The writer wanted to know why the plaintiffs in the case didn't just settle.

The facts are really not in dispute--the mass arrests were bad, violated due process, etc. Other Pershing Park plaintiffs have settled.

I can't begin to guess why the plaintiffs in this case have not settled. But one thing that appears driving the plaintiffs is the simple quest of getting to the truth of what happened on September 27, 2002.

Why is this important? Because immediately following those bad arrests, D.C. Police officials lied and manipulated information about that day.

Read More "Why Does The Pershing Park Case Matter?" »

On Tuesday afternoon, the body of Shahabuddin Rana, 44, was found inside his Pizza Mart shop located along the 2300 block of 4th Street NE. Rana's homicide was complicated by reports of a small fire near his body and by the fact that the D.C. Police Department would not say how he died. DCist and WJLA have followed the murder closely.

Today, City Desk called the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in an effort to clear up the mystery behind Rana's murder. The medical examiner was able to provide the answer.

Rana died from "blunt head trauma" as well as "stab and incised wounds," according to the office's spokesperson Beverly Fields.

Read More "Pizza Mart Owner Died From ‘Blunt Head Trauma,’ Stab Wounds" »

As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning.

Morning all. Late last night, we published a piece on the latest mystery woman in Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry's life: Sharon Bowen. Bowen, who resides in Ohio, received $50,000 in contract work from the legendary politico to work on poverty issues in Ward 8. Bowen, our sources say, was also Barry's girlfriend at the time (June 2007 to May 2008). For the piece, we detail her work and interview key players including Barry and Bowen's daughter. Meanwhile, the Hill Rag's The Nose examines Barry's legislative record and finds it lacking in accomplishments. The upshot: many of Barry's bills go nowhere and his priorities seem misplaced.

TREY JOYNER: The U.S. Park Police shooting of Trey Joyner on June 8 is getting a serious look by law enforcement authorities. On that Monday night, four park police cops in plainclothes moved in on Joyner as he was getting out of a car. When the officers tried to arrest him, allegedly a struggle ensued and he was gunned down. Witnesses at the time stated that Joyner was shot in the back and that the officers did not announce themselves. Now, WaPo is reporting that a federal grand jury is getting deep into the case and has subpoenaed an amateur video showing the chaos in Trinidad after the shooting. The WaPo scoop includes an interview with the filmmaker and has the man's video. Fox-5 finds Eleanor Holmes Norton is still fuming over whether or not the U.S. Attorney's Office should be leading the investigation into the shooting. If only all suspicious police shootings got this much attention.

HOMELESS FAMILIES: District officials plan to expand the number of beds for homeless families by 10 percent. But there's a catch: the extra beds will only be available in the winter. WaPo reports that means 75 more beds (WUSA also has the story). Key graphs:

"Nassim Moshiree, a lawyer with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said the officials who presented the plan seemed overconfident. 'This past spring, 88 families were living at the family shelter at D.C. General Hospital when the capacity was 75,' Moshiree said. 'Some had to stay in the cafeteria. They say they'll only need 75 beds there in the winter, when demand is high now. Where is their Plan B? They need a Plan B.'

Fred Swan, family services administrator for the Department of Human Services, said Moshiree voiced a common complaint. 'To a certain extent, we hear that every year,' Swan said. 'We'll make adjustments as needed.'

AFTER THE JUMP---Cathy Lanier dismisses the controversy over the "police" report in Fenty's car accident, Harry Jaffe continues to hammer away at the Pershing Park case, Fenty signs anti-crime bill, and much, much more.

Read More "Marion Barry’s Mystery Woman Revealed: Loose Lips Daily" »

As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT---"Jack Evans Says He Still Supports Peter Nickles," "Councilmember Alexander Raises Concerns Over AG Nickles."

Morning all. Last night may have been National Night Out but for Mayor Fenty, it's Greek Week. WaPo breaks the stunning news that the District government actually paid the $37,000 tab for his Kappa Alpha Psi's welcoming party. The bash was held on Monday night and featured an open bar, crab cakes, red velvet cupcakes, and jazz bands tooting on two floors. The Post makes no mention of beer bongs and togas. The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development had put out the dough via a grant. AG Peter Nickles apparently has forced Fenty and Co. to reimburse the city for the shindig. But Nickles swears Fenty knew nothing about the city's involvement. Key graphs:

"Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said he looked into the matter Tuesday morning at the request of the mayor. 'I concluded immediately that this was not proper,' said Nickles, who said the society reimbursed the money that morning.

Although the mayor attended the affair and was on stage as fraternity members thanked him for paying for the event, 'he didn't put two and two together that this was money that had come from the city,' Nickles said."

SEX ED NEWS: The District plans to expand its STD testing program into all public high schools. WaPo has the full story on this progressive move. There are plenty of reasons to do this. Key graphs: "The program conducted last year at eight high schools found that 13 percent of about 3,000 students tested positive for an STD, mostly gonorrhea or chlamydia, according to the D.C. Department of Health. The expansion places D.C. public schools in the vanguard of a growing number of urban school districts that test adolescents for STDs. About 12,000 students attend public high schools in the District." The news came within hours of DC Appleseed releasing its report card on how the District is dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis (for public education, the District received a C+). WaPo covers the DC Appleseed's findings noting the overall positive scores: "But the report took Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to task for failing to give the disease more visibility. 'While Mayor Fenty and his administration deserve recognition for the continued support of . . . numerous HAA initiatives, his public appearances and statements about the epidemic have fallen short of his enthusiasm for action inside the government,' it said."

THE NEW YORK TIMES IS ON OUR SIDE: The paper's editorial board comes down hard against Congress and its attempts to meddle in our needle exchange program. The editorial dubbed the meddling an "outrage."

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT: As we mentioned above, National Night Out happened. This meant another All-Hands-On-Deck effort from the D.C. Police Department. Police visibility was high! But News Channel 8 reports that the District still endured at least one violent incident. Three people were injured during a shooting in Southeast shortly after 10 p.m. News Channel 8 reports: "Fire officials say two 38-year-old women and a 17-year-old boy have each been shot in the leg."

AFTER THE JUMP: A power outage, more Metro news, Harry Jaffe pens a quick profile of the judge in the Pershing Park case, and much, much more.

Read More "Paying For Fenty’s Frat Party: Loose Lips Daily" »

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan slammed the District's lawyers for how it has severely mishandled evidence in a civil case brought by plantiffs who were arrested in Pershing Park in September 2002.

Sullivan focused particularly on AG Peter Nickles. The Post writes:

"Sullivan ordered D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles to submit a sworn declaration detailing his office's shoddy work and the steps he was taking to fix the problems.

Sullivan said he would impose 'severe' monetary sanctions on the D.C. government and urged Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to 'settle this case soon.' 'This kind of conduct is not acceptable,' Sullivan said, calling the actions of D.C. government lawyers 'abysmal' and urging the D.C. Council to investigate the attorney general's office.'"

You can read Sullivan's full statement to the court here. So what provoked the judge's anger?

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Now It’s All About The Cover Up; Nickles Faces Huge Test In U.S. District Court" »

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.

Read More "Case Dismissed: The Latest AHOD Stats Are Here!" »

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.

Read More "All Hands On Deck: D.C. Police Arrest Numbers Are In" »

Fire Chief Dennis Rubin with Adrian Fenty at a press conference yesterday

Fenty is expected to make remarks on the red line crash this morning at 8:00 a.m. We'll be live-blogging the press conference here.

8:01 a.m. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin, Councilmember Jim Graham step up.

8:02 a.m. Fenty says he wants the country to know that his first efforts are with the families and friends of the victims. 76 people were taken off of the train to the hospital. Yesterday, six were confirmed dead. This morning, the number of confirmed dead is seven. Not nine as previously reported.

Read More "Fenty Press Conference #3: Liveblog" »

More magazine gives the long treatment to D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier. The magazine's slogan is "Celebrating women 40+" and that should give you all the insight you need into just how investigative this profile is.

If it doesn't, then perhaps this snippet from the story will:

Read More "D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier Profiled in More" »

Today, the various crime bills are being debated as I write this item. You can read the complete and competing bills here. The Post has gathered up the pro and con surrounding the controversial proposal to take gangs or gang members to civil court. The Post writes:

The provision -- drafted by the administration of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) -- would allow authorities to target alleged gang members in civil proceedings. A prosecutor could obtain an injunction barring an alleged gang member from engaging in a range of activities, including such nuisance offenses as harassing passersby on the street.

Loose Lips is liveblogging the big crime bill debate. This afternoon, I talked to a veteran D.C. Police official who has vast experience with drug and gang cases. I wanted to know their thoughts on the crime bills and the civil-court provisions.

They basically thought the crime bill(s) were a waste of time.

Read More "One Veteran Cop on the Crime Bill Grandstanding" »