Read the letter after the jump.

Graham writes:

"Friends:

Police report to me there have been up to 8 different incidents since Sunday involving 2 well know gangs in the Shaw neighborhood.  As reported on this listserve and confirmed by police, these shots are being fired in the vicinity of 7^th and o and 8^th and S.  Up until Wednesday, no one was hit.  On Wednesday, a person was grazed on the side of his head.  He is hospitalized.  But he is also under arrest for possession of a large quantity of cocaine.

The feud between these two gangs has been going on for decades.  Most of the feuds between gangs in the District have been going on for a long time.  MPD and specialized gang units within MPD know who these guys are.  MPD works hard in making arrests.  But more needs to be done.  The violence needs to stop.

The feud between these particular groups, which happen to be based in two different Wards of the city, reinforces the argument I have repeatedly made.  We need a CITYWIDE strategy on gang intervention. Gang violence crosses ward and MPD District boundaries.  And so should our law enforcement efforts and intervention programs.

I have been at the forefront of fighting gang and crew violence for the entire 11 years on the Council.  I have sponsored bills for increased law enforcement powers and authored funding for targeted, community based intervention and prevention programs.  In 2003 I helped Chief Ramsey form the very successful Gang Intervention Partnership.  Over the last three years, I have authored approximately $2.5 million in funding to establish and sustain the Citywide Coordinating Council on Youth Violence Prevention (CCCYVP).

In June, Chairman Gray and Councilmember Mendelson joined me in presenting the Blueprint for Action: Responding to Gang and Crew Violence. The Council has already passed the first 2 recommendations of the Blueprint as part of the Omnibus Crime Bill.  The Mayor is required to form a working group of MPD officials, CCCYVP and key government agencies to coordinate targeted and sustained interventions of enforcement powers and prevention resources in areas where we have seen the most gang violence.

I am also convinced law enforcement officials need additional tools to target the most active and potentially violent gang members. On two different occasions in June, 2009 I fought for civil gang injunctions.  Mayor Fenty and Councilmembers Bowser, Catania, Evans and I understand how gang and crew members’ feuds not only endanger the lives of gang and crew members, but all of our lives.  We understand how gangs and crew member intimidate and sometimes claim to “own” certain blocks, recreation centers, corner stores, schools.  The Council voted down both bills.  We need to give the MPD Gang Fusion Unit the tools to put gang members on notice.

I am committed to doing all I can to make sure this violence stops.

Councilmember Jim Graham"

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?

In September, Lanier may have squandered some goodwill by stubbornly sticking by and fighting for her All Hands On Deck program. She would do well to let that program drop. It is certainly not worth the money and the on-going petty court fight. In talking with police brass about the drop in homicides, no one mentioned AHOD is a factor. Lanier has initiated a number of other crime-fighting strategies that have both paid off and netted support from the rank-and-file.

Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, who is in charge of the Investigative Services Bureau, attributes the homicide drop to a series of Lanier-endorsed initiatives from IT upgrades to personnel moves to a push to investigate not only fatal shootings but non-fatal shootings. "One thing [detectives] are trying to focus on is shootings that don't result in homicides," Newsham explains, "trying to ID [the perp] even when nobody is struck, what the cause of the shooting was, where the victims are from, what types of associations [they may have]."

Sounds of gunshots actually gets a serious response from police. "Even if they don't find anything, we still track that," says Lt. Wilfredo Manlapaz of the homicide branch. "We look at that---especially the chief and patrol commanders. They may deploy officers there to find out if it's true, call intelligence officers out there to find out if there is some type of crew beef. If there's a known crew out there, based on that, who do we know that's beefing and having a problem with this crew?"

This past Friday night's double shooting at 13th and W Streets NW backs up this claim. Two men were shot. Both would survive their injuries. Despite their relatively minor wounds, the police were out in force guarding the crime scene as well as trying to track down the three suspects. A police helicopter roared overhead. Near the crime scene, one man was cuffed and interrogated. Detectives could also be seen interviewing potential witnesses, fanning flash lights on the pavement looking for shell casings, and patrolling nearby alleys.

The police presence was overwhelming. At one point, a detective hollered at a dude for leaning on an unmarked police car. She even got in his face about it. Talk about zero tolerance.

The other big factor Newsham cited was Lanier's push to get homicide detectives and beat cops to share information. "The street officers know more than we do," explains Manlapaz. "They are out there every day. We aren't confined to specific beats. We aren't familiar with the people in the neighborhood."

Manlapaz says the detective-patrol-cop cooperation came into play in a December '08  stabbing death on 14th Street in Columbia Heights. The beat cops knew the victim, knew people who may have been involved and had pictures of the possible perps. Manlapaz says he put the beat cops with the intelligence unit and the detectives.

Manlapaz continues: "It involved gang members and this came into play.... We got the nicknames from the community and passed them on to the gang unit. The beat officers knew the names already and had information---I know that person, I know where they live, as a matter of fact I just saw them. The intelligence unit knew all of them. They went out and picked them up for us so we could interview them."

Manlapaz says the case soon was closed with two men arrested. "We were able to piece together what happened, why it happened, and locate the suspects quickly."

Lanier has heavily promoted and helped ease beat-cop-detective communications. How? Through roll calls, crime briefings and quarterly homicide meetings where detectives present cases to District Commanders, PSA supervisors, vice units, and selected patrol officers.  Lanier has also initiated an emergency session or two when there's been an uptick in violence.

In May, there had been three homicides within a few blocks, Manlapaz says. Lanier called a special meeting to discuss these cases. She brought "everybody together, anybody that could potentially assist with the cases."

Assistant Chief Diane Groomes confirms this new approach. "Anytime there is a spree of violence, pattern of violence not only to include homicides but carjackings/robberies---we gather the important segments together to listen to the cases and brainstorm on what is needed to close out the cases," she wrote in an e-mail to City Desk. "This includes again not just command officials but those from patrols directly---who work the streets and need this information, and we need their input."

Groomes writes that the mission for detectives has expanded: "There is a greater cooperation and the detectives have also been given the mission to also PREVENT crime instead of just investigating it after it occurs."

This greater cooperation between detectives and beat cops may be Lanier's legacy. It surely will not be her much-hyped gimmicks.

*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."

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.

Two more AHODs are scheduled for this year---starting Nov. 13 and Dec. 17. A request for comment from city officials, including on whether those AHODs will continue, was not immediately returned. Lanier vowed in a statement to continue the AHODs and appeal Truesdale's ruling.

Despite the victory, police union chief Kristopher Baumann was not in a gloating mood. "It's sort of bittersweet, because this turned out to be a big waste of time and money....This was an initiative or a program that was not effective."

The department can now appeal to the Public Employee Relations Board, and on to Superior Court if necessary. Baumann calls on Fenty and Lanier to "respect the decision, respect the law, respect the contract and not appeal it again and again and cost the District hundreds of thousands."

"The odds of them prevailing on appeal are almost zero," he says.

UPDATE, 7 P.M.: Lanier has released a statement: "I disagree with the arbitrator’s decision and am confident it will be overturned on appeal. I announced the dates for the All Hands on Deck a year in advance out of consideration for the officers and their families. The crime emergencies of the past were reactionary, costly and extremely hard on the officers and their families. Notwithstanding today’s ruling, the All Hands on Deck initiatives will continue pursuant to my authority under both the labor agreement and District personnel law. As our reduction in violent crimes and homicides this year demonstrates, the initiative is in the best interest of our city and the safety of our residents. I do intend to appeal today’s decision and look forward to a ruling on the legal conclusions reached by the arbitrator in this action."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

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.

When it investigated Pershing Park,  the D.C. Council hit a wall. I found a telling Q+A excerpt from Sgt. Michael Thorton in its final report.

At the time, Sgt. Michael Thorton's work included driving then-Chief Charles Ramsey around. He was with Ramsey on Sept. 27. His responses to counsel questions are quoted in the report. His answers are either total bullshit or symptoms of dementia:

Q: Did you go from that location [Vermont Avenue and K Street] to Pershing Park?

A: I went to Pershing Park.  The sequence of events I don’t remember…

Q: Would you have walked from Vermont and K to Pershing Park?

A: Could be.

Q: Did you go back into the car?

A: From Vermont and K?  I don’t remember.  I mean at some point I would have had to go, but I don’t remember from that location or where we went next…

Q: At some point you left Pershing Park, did you not?

A: Yup.

Q: How did you leave Pershing Park?

A: I don’t remember.

Q: When you got to Pershing Park you said one of your assignments was to keep an eye on the crowd, right?

A: Uh-huh….

Q: And you would do it to the best of your ability, correct?

A: I would, yes, ma’am.

Q:  And you would be alert, right?

A: Uh-huh.

Q: And attentive, correct?

A: Uh-huh.

Q: Okay. So now you’re at Pershing Park and tell us having been alert and attentive, what do you see?...

A: Demonstrators standing around, police officers standing around, and a lot of horses. I was in back of the horses… I wasn’t right beside the Chief there. So, you know, I felt like it was a safe situation, that I didn’t feel like that he was, his personal safety was in, I didn’t feel his personal safety was in danger at the location...

Q: Was it an unruly crowd?

A: Was it – what do you mean unruly?  What do you mean?

Q: Were there skirmishes?  Were people pushing and shoving?  Was it loud?  Did it seem out of control?  What was your assessment?  You’re a police officer, I assume you can make assessments about the nature of circumstances you find yourself in, so I’m asking you to describe them for us.

A: I was behind the line of horses and I did not feel that there was a threat to the Chief of Police…

Q: Did you see him confer with others?

A: He was standing in close proximity to other police officers but I don’t know who they were. I mean, they could have been line officers, they could have been park police. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t remember who they were. I don’t recall any specific person that he spoke to at that location.

Sgt. Thornton also was asked about the arrests.  Despite the fact that approximately 400 people were arrested while he stood at the corner of 14^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, Sgt. Thornton testified that he could not remember any specific details about those events.  His responses:

Q: When you arrived there – were arrests being effected yet?

A: I don’t recall any arrests, being on the scene for arrests…

Q: You don’t recall any arrests at Pershing Park on Friday September 27^th?

A: You know, I’ve learned through the media reports that, yeah, there was numerous arrests, but I don’t recall seeing anyone being arrested…

Q: We’ve see news footage of you and Chief Ramsey removing the bicycle of an arrested demonstrator from Pershing Park.  Do you remember that?

A: Me removing a bicycle from Pershing Park?  No.  But, okay.

Q: You were removing it from someone who had been arrested and I ask to see if that would jog your memory to see if you remembered people being arrested at Pershing Park.

A: [no answer]

After reading that officers statements, the need for the running resume---the document that chronicles in real-time all orders and cop movements---is obvious.

And the need for accountability remains a strong motivation. Especially since Chief Cathy Lanier had a hand in developing policies that lead to Pershing Park.

Lanier had a hand in developing the hog-tie technique. The 400 arrested that day were shipped off to the police academy where they were then hog-tied. In a deposition, Lanier discusses the technique. She claimed that it was comfortable: “[I]t was not uncomfortable. In fact, I recall sitting on a couch in the commander's office with my cuff to my ankle and to my wrist, and was able to not only sit and stand but could also lay down with relative ease.”

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

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.

The police have handed out fliers seeking information on the murder.

Yesterday, the D.C. Police Department issued a press release on Rana. The police did not reveal Rana's cause of death, writing:

"On Tuesday, August 18, 2009, at approximately 12:20 pm, members of the Fifth District were flagged down by a concerned citizen to check on the welfare of the owner of the Pizza Mart located at 2300 Fourth Street, NE. Upon entering the establishment, an adult male was observed unconscious and unresponsive lying on the floor.  DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department personnel responded and determined that there were no signs of life.  The decedent has been identified as 44-year-old Shahabuddin Rana of the 800 block of Sligo Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The cause and manner of death of the decedent are pending an autopsy to be performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia; however, the death is being investigated as a homicide at this time."

*photo courtesy of Fox.

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.

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT: D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier doesn't get why the press---and maybe a few readers---are concerned over how the police handled Mayor Fenty's fender bender. "I think there has been a lot of things made out of nothing here," Lanier tells WJLA. Nothing? WaPo has more from Lanier on the accident. Key quote: "'[Fenty] stayed on the scene. The [mayor's] children that were on the scene, were taken from the scene, but he stayed on the scene while the other driver didn't,' Lanier said. 'There are no procedures that were not followed. We thought that it was important to get the report taken and then file the supplemental report when we got the information. The important thing was to take the report, and it was taken, The photos were not taken because the other driver left the scene. The mayor stayed on the scene. He could have left because it was a minor fender-bender -- if this was anybody else, they could have exchange information and left the scene.'

MORE TROUBLE FOR PETER NICKLES: The Examiner's Bill Myers is reporting that there's a big conflict brewing betweeen AG Nickles and City Auditor Deborah Nichols. Key graphs: "City Auditor Deborah Nichols says she wants a look at the last few years of books of the Anacostia Waterfront Commission and the National Capital Revitalization Corp. but that Nickles is invoking attorney-client privilege to prevent access to important records. 'It's quite clear that the [Attorney General's Office] is inexplicably attempting to subvert the auditor's authority,' Nichols wrote in a July 2 letter obtained by The Examiner. Nichols called the attorney general's conduct 'unconscionable and unacceptable.'" Nickles says his actions were "appropriate." Myers goes on to explain why Nichols is so interested: "According to a source familiar with Nichols' audit, she also is asking questions about tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees the revitalization corporation paid to Michelle Fenty in 2006 as Mayor Adrian Fenty, then a D.C. councilman, campaigned for the mayor's office. The mayor's wife focuses her practice on global technology transactions and does not appear to have a background in community development." Meanwhile, Harry Jaffe compares the problems in the Pershing Park case to Watergate.

CAFRITZ FIRE: Today, Mayor Fenty plans on announcing the preliminary findings in the city's investigation into the hydrant problems surrounding the Peggy Cooper Cafritz house fire. WaPo reports that WASA has written a letters to City Administrator Neil O. Albert in an apparent attempt to push some of the blame on the Fire Department. Fenty is expected to hold a news conference today near the Cafritz home. WUSA reports that the Fire Department is already taking measures---measures that were recommended in 2007---to prevent such hydrant issues from happening again.

BUDGET TALK: Elissa Silverman and Liz Williams get all ProPublica on the District as they report out what happened to the city's federal stimulus money in the Hill Rag. They find that without the fed's help the District would be in total budget meltdown mode: "The stimulus is helping DC in two key ways. Plummeting tax revenues combined with increased demands for health care and other human services have created gaping holes in state and local government budgets everywhere. The District is no exception. About a quarter of DC’s budget gap this year and next will be plugged by various pots of money made available from the stimulus. Without that critical influx of dollars, the city would have had to make even deeper spending cuts that would have led to more job losses and slowed down our economic recovery."

CRIME BILL: WaPo reports that Mayor Fenty signed the emergency crime bill (minus the tricky anti-gang initiative). Fenty and Lanier praised the bill's new anti-loitering provisions, etc. Fenty still played the spoilsport: the bill's author Councilmember Phil Mendelson did not attend the bill signing photo op. He was not invited. Wondering why? Mendo did not support the anti-gang initiative.

FENTY'S SCHEDULE:
9:00 a.m. Remarks
Chain Bridge Fire Report
Location: 3022 Chain Bridge Road, NW

10:00 a.m. Remarks
Summer School Graduation
Location: Washington Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
Ballroom AB Level III

11:45 a.m. Remarks
Potomac Avenue Triangle Park Groundbreaking
Location: Intersection of Potomac Avenue, 13th, and I Streets, SE

1:30 p.m. Remarks
Marvin Gaye Park Groundbreaking
Location: Intersection of Division Avenue and Foote Street, NE

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.

Fox5 covers a power outage that left one Northeast neighborhood without electricity for most of yesterday. Three utility poles had crashed to the ground. Key graph: "The downed lines were a health hazard for some. One 7 month old who suffers from a heart condition was taken from his apartment complex, which had no electricity for hours."

METRO: Yesterday, Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. begged a Senate subcommittee for more money. WaPo reports: "Metro, the only major transit agency without a source of dedicated funding, says it needs more than $7 billion for capital projects over the next 10 years to offer safe and reliable service." Catoe stated that without additional funding, safety as well as service would decline. Bonus graph: "Catoe used a question from Menendez about what lessons he has learned from the crash to sharpen his request for more money. He noted that the oldest Series 1000 train cars are less crashworthy than the newer cars, which he said "did not cause the accident but had an impact on the amount of damage that can be done." All six of the cars on the train that struck the one ahead of it were from the old series."

FBI RAID: Yesterday, the feds raided a health clinic in SE as well as a medical supply company. The agents are looking into allegations of medicaid fraud. WUSA9 reported that a number of patients had to be turned away while the agents did their work.

STaTter 911 raises some good points over the on-going issues with the hydrants:

"Councilmember Jim Graham announced Friday he will hold a hearing on September 16 to determine what went wrong at the fire last Wednesday night at the Chain Bridge Road mansion of former DC Board of Education president Peggy Cooper Cafritz. The Ward 1 councilmember is trying to determine why it took the DC Fire & EMS Department almost two hours to establish a reliable water supply to combat the fire.

Mayor Adrian Fenty has asked the fire chief and the DC Water & Sewer Authority (WASA) for reports this week on what happened and how to correct the issues.

If this sounds familiar, it should. In late 2007, Councilmember Graham held a series of hearings looking at the serious water supply issues that became apparent during a four-alarm fire that destroyed an apartment building in Adams Morgan on October 1 of that year. The Fenty administration also ordered an investigative report into the problems that occurred during that fire.

So what happened to the report?"

YOU DON'T MESS WITH U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE EMMET SULLIVAN: That's the gist of Harry Jaffe's new column in the Examiner. Judge Sullivan is presiding over the controversial Pershing Park case and has called on the D.C. Council to investigate possible wrongdoing in which evidence has either been lost or destroyed or messed with. Key graph: "Three different presidents put Sullivan into three different judgeships: Ronald Reagan appointed him to Superior Court; George Bush (41) moved him up to the federal court of appeals; Bill Clinton nominated him to the federal district court in 1994. From the streets of his home town to the federal bench, friends and lawyers have learned one thing: 'Don't cross the dude.'"

FENTY'S SCHEDULE:

10:00 a.m.
Remarks Savoy Playground Installation Kick-off
Location: Savoy Elementary School
2400 Shannon Place, SE

3:45 pm Remarks
Appleseed HIV/AIDS Report Card Announcement
Location: J’s Barber Shop 3845 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE

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?

Pershing Park is the scandal that just won't go away. On the morning of September 27, 2002, D.C. Police had set about to monitor anti-IMF/World Bank demonstrators. By then, the protests and the policing of the protests had become routine, almost boring. There were no major acts of violence, vandalism or unrest that day.

But then the police decided to move on people in Pershing Park. They had funneled protesters into the park. Video taken of the park shows the protesters looking bored, sitting around. There were also other non-protesters in the park including nurses in town for a convention, and lawyers on their way to work.  Without warning, police rounded them up and arrested them all.

Police then transferred the mass to its training  academy in Blue Plains; each citizen was then hogtied and left on a mat for hours. They were all arrested for "failure to obey" an officer's order.

We wrote  a cover story on the arrests. Cathy Lanier had a hand in developing the hogtie tactic.

The controversial arrests hounded then-Chief Charles Ramsey. Then-Councilmember Kathy Patterson conducted an investigation into the incident and issued a devastating report.

The report concluded that Ramsey and Co. did not have probable cause to arrest anyone in Pershing Park, failed to give any orders to the people in Pershing Park (they were arrested for "failure to obey"), and went on to question whether Ramsey lied to the council in his testimonies.

For the past five years, plantiffs attorneys had been asking for the most basic documentation of the Pershing Park incident. They had been requesting items that should not have surprised anyone at the Attorney General's Office or the D.C. Police Department.

The attorneys had asked for the radio runs concerning Pershing Park---the back-and-forth communications between officers and officials on the scene. And they had asked for the running resume from the command center which would have amounted to another very basic back-and-forth database documentation of what all police officials knew at the time and what orders were given. This is basic accountability stuff.

For the past five years, plantiffs attorneys could never get these items. Even worse, the radio runs they did receive appear to have been doctored.

The Running Resume

In its motion for sanctions, plantiffs attorneys write:

"The District has destroyed or lost the Joint Operations Command Center 'running resume,' which is the central repository of all acts taken and events observed and decisions made by law enforcement on September 27, 2002. While the District falsely claimed it never existed, the [plantiffs] were able to prove that there were no less than 12 hard copies of this electronically generated document provided to key command in the MPD, including then-Chief of Police Charles H. Ramsey."

The motion for sanctions goes on to state that not only were there 12 copies made of the running resume but there were also "two redundant electronic data file or data base back-ups created." These electronic versions have never been turned over to the plantiffs.

The plantiffs go on to state that the loss or destruction of the resume occurred after a police official---Sgt. Douglas Jones---turned over the data dump to his superior.

From there, the trail for the running resume goes cold. No one will say what happened to the data. There is no evidence that it was not received by the general counsel's office.

In an earlier protester lawsuit stemming from the anti-IMF/World Bank activities on April 2002, D.C. Police denied that the running resume's existence. The denials stopped after Sgt. Jones testified in deposition that he handed the resume over not once but twice to the police department's general counsel. He also was able to recover his own e-mails to the counsel's office as well as the data base. At that point, D.C. Police suddenly disclosed that its counsel had the data base all along.

In that case, Judge John D. Bates sanctioned the District for "a clear case of sanctionable discovery misconduct." He ordered the District to pay roughly $100,000 for the misconduct. The running resume showed that the FBI had interrogated the activists.

Bates ruled: "It is clear that the District not only should have known about the existence of the running resume, but individuals with the District did know about the running resume."

It's not like MPD did not know the lawsuits related to Pershing Park were coming.

Plaintiffs state that within one week of the mass arrests,  MPD Inspector James Crane stated in deposition that General Counsel Harris "called me up, and it was shortly after the protest and said he'd like to, in advance of any litigation, he wanted to get copies" of the recorded police communications.

The D.C. council had requested the running resume during its investigation. Plantiffs argue that D.C. Police tried to pass off to the council a different document as the running resume. "The Council was never given this crucial document nor told it was destroyed or withheld," the lawyers state. "The running resume is the key to all claims. It is gone, and the prejudice is massive."

The attorneys go on to state: "It is remarkable, even unbelievable, that the MPD could 'lose' all of the many hard and computer copies of the running resume."

"I think that this is an astonishing destruction of documents," plaintiffs attorney Carl Messineo tells City Desk.  "That responsibility lay at the doorstep of Peter Nickles. This indicates misconduct that permeates the entire legal representation for the District of Columbia and MPD in other protest cases."

The Radio Runs

District lawyers did hand over radio runs across multiple channels to the Pershing Park plantiffs. But there was a catch.

Key segments of the radio communications had been erased. What was erased? The critical minutes leading up to the arrests and any communications during the arrests themselves. On one channel, there was a gap of at least 45 minutes. There were gaps on the other channels as well during the period of the decision making and execution of the arrests.

"The District has not accounted for these erasures or gaps, which were uncovered after intensive discovery efforts by Plaintiffs. In response to a discovery order ordering an accounting, the District submitted a materially false sworn statement to the Court regarding the radio runs," lawyers state.

On October 30, 2007, the District was ordered by the courts to account for "any technical difficulties, questions regarding authenticity, or unaccounted for periods of time in the produced audio tapes."

Plaintiffs argued in their sanctions motion that the District never complied with the 2007 order.

Plaintiffs got a sets of tapes three to four times--each set was different and incomplete. With each set of tapes, the lawyers still noticed gaps at the most crucial times (say when the people were arrested in Pershing Park) but the gaps varied in length. In other words, each set of tapes appears to be doctored in a different way.

Denise Alexander, communications technication employeed by the D.C. Police, submitted an affadavit in which she stated that there were nothing deficient about the tapes.

In Crane's deposition, he admitted that there was indeed issues with recordings. "I believe that there is an issue that not all the recordings are present," Crane admitted. "I do recognize there's an issue with the lack of recordings."

After the Crane deposition, the District produced a new set of audio tapes. Again, the tapes have gaps---not the same gaps---but similar critical gaps around the time of the arrests.

"This is a case that has been transformed from a case which revealed a willingness of the MPD to engage in mass civil rights violations into a scandal that reveals the willingness of the MPD and its legal representatives to destroy documents after those documents are clearly relevant in litigation," Messineo says. "It's now a case about a cover up."

Veteran city attorney Thomas Koger, who is handling the case, refused to comment for this story. “I’m not authorized to speak about any topics.  Mr. Nickles is authorized," Koger says. “Mr. Nickles would be handling any questions about that.”

Nickles did not return calls seeking comment.

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.

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.

8:03 a.m. Fenty says it's the deadliest crash in the history of WMATA. Two critically injured held stable in the hospital last night. One injured person was updated out of critical last night. Fenty says he'll begin making next-of-kin notifications today.

8:04 a.m. Heavy equipment came in today to begin cutting through the train. Fenty says that after the machinery comes in they'll have an updated number of confirmed dead. He hopes it doesn't rise from the current number, 7.

8:05 a.m. Fenty brings forward Fire Chief Rubin.

8:06 a.m. Rubin says at 5:30 a.m. a crane was able to come in to lift up some of the debris to help "thoroughly check every single space." Firefighters worked through the night. Brought in dogs to look for survivors underneath the train and in the wooded area near the tracks.

8:07 a.m. Rescue is on hold for now while the trains are moved off the train. There have been two minor firefighter injuries, Rubin says.

8:08 a.m. Police Chief Cathy Lanier gives an update on next-of-kin updates. She says that they will likely be able to be made later today.

8:09 a.m. WMATA chief John Catoe gives his condolences to the families of the driver and the passengers. "We will find out what happened here, what caused this, and put all the resources necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again." Says his heart goes out to the families of the dead and injured. Says he's heard comments from around the world about the crash.

8:10 a.m. Data recovery: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) rep Debbie Hersman says they are making sure they document each step of that so they know the exact condition of the accident scene going forward. Investigators say there were nine data recorders on the train that was struck. The striking train, which hit the standing train, does not have the same level of recorders on it, so they are not expecting to get any data off of that. There are 9 NTSB investigators working on the scene.

8:12 a.m. WMATA operates in "ATO" or "automatic" mode during rush hour---the time of the crash. Hersman says one team will be looking at the drivers' records as well as cell phone and texting records to get more info about what they were doing at the time of the scene. There will also be an equipment investigation to see if there was any breakage. There's also a team looking at the condition of the track for any broken circuits or defects after the trains are moved. Another team will be working to interview survivors about what happened during the crash and how effective WMATA worked post-crash.

8:13 a.m. Hersman begins taking questions.

First question: Expound on the crashworthiness of the train cars. [Mike Debonis is on the crashworthiness question here].

Hersman says that the entire last car on the train was compromised in the crash. She says only that there have been recommendations made about survivability on the trains made to the feds and to WMATA.

Catoe adds in that any crash would compromise part of the car.

Second question: Even if the train was on automatic, shouldn't there have been some way for the driver to see the train ahead and manually stop it?

Hersman says that they'll do an investigation of the speeds of the trains and perform a sight-distance test to see whether it would have even been possible for the train's driver to see the train in front in time to step.

Third question: What is the best-case scenario of getting any recorded information off the 1000-series cars (the older car that hit the train ahead)?

Hersman says they don't expect to get any information from off that car.

Fourth question: [I missed this one, anyone catch it?]

Fifth question: Basically, if these 1000 series cars have poor crashworthiness and no recording devices, why are they in use?

Hersman says there have been recommendations made that the 1000-series cars are phased out. She says that there have also been recommendations for adding recording devices to those cars before they're phased out. But she cautions against assuming the cause of this crash.

Fenty says that they will reconvene at 5 p.m. for what he expects to be the final city-led press conference on the crash.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

More

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

Lanier may be chief, but her heart remains stubbornly with the foot soldiers, the beat cops who, she says, “can tell you exactly when certain crimes are going to pick up in certain neighborhoods.” And with the single mothers (and aunts and grandmothers) whose profound strength and influence she feels are vastly underestimated. Reaching, appreciating, serving and, ultimately, utilizing the underdogs, both within and outside the department, has been a hallmark of Lanier’s administration. Some might call it her obsession. She has created a Web site where cops can take their gripes and advice directly to her. She gives out her business card to everyone she meets, and often her private cell number as well. (She guesses at least a thousand D.C. citizens now have it.) She insists on being called every time there is a shooting in the city. “A lot of people have criticized me a little for being too far down in the weeds,” Lanier admits. “But if you separate yourself from the people involved in and impacted by crime, you’re going to fail.”

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

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.

Here are their thoughts:

"We got plenty of laws in place. Drug laws and gun laws. But it's a rotating door down at the courthouse. The youth system sucks in the city. You look at the history of these criminals, come on.

You need laws that the courts are going to pay attention to. Go down and sit in arraignment court and copy down names of people that walk out the same day and run their records.

The problem is not the mayor or anyone else. It's the court system. It's the judges in the courts. Sometimes you got to keep a criminal behind bars. If you got someone who sells drugs to a police officer---he should be in jail. He should be locked up.

[We] experience this on a daily basis. Especially our street tasforces.

Why do we need new civil charges? For harrassing people on the street, cops could charge criminals with disorderly conduct."