Park Police complain of budget strain�

"Several veteran Park Police officers noted that Teresa Chambers, as police chief, raised warnings in December 2003. She was suspended and later fired for telling reporters that the agency had neither enough officers nor resources to provide adequate security in a post-September 11 world... the National Park Service told Congress in April 2000 that Park Police needed 806 officers. At the time, the agency had 638 officers, compared with 621 today"
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 24, 2006

The Case For Repealing DC's Gun Laws

"D.C.'s homicide rate has soared since the city banned handguns in 1976...
The District of Columbia is the only jurisdiction in the U.S. that prohibits keeping firearms in an operable condition at home, for defense against criminal attack...
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has ruled that the city's police department is "not generally liable to victims of violent criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection. . . ." (Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1, 1981)...
Since D.C. imposed its handgun ban, 29 states have adopted laws to allow citizens to carry firearms for self-defense. Today, 38 states have Right-to-Carry laws. States with those laws have seen crime decrease, and they have lower overall violent crime rates compared to other states."

How tax-friendly is your state?

The Tax Foundation, a policy research group, estimated the average taxpayer's total state and local tax burden for 2005. D.C. comes in second for least tax friendly at 12.2% of per capita income.
CNN/Money

Auditors fault special-ed data�

"The District's Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) and public school system don't know how many foster children receive special education, according to a government audit released yesterday."
By Jim McElhatton
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 19, 2006

D.C. officials earn in city, live in burbs�

"More than half of the D.C. government's employees live outside the District, taking about 60 percent of the government's $1.73 billion payroll to spend -- and be taxed -- in the suburbs... The District imposes a 5.75 percent sales tax and a property tax rate of 92 cents per $100 assessed value. It also levies a top income tax rate of 9 percent... Of the 4,723 persons on the police department payroll last year, about a quarter — 1,193 — lived in the city. Of the fire department's 1,988 employees, 580 were city residents, or 29.2 percent."
By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 19, 2006

Crime types vary by D.C. division�

"the 6th and 7th police districts -- which comprise poor and working-class neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River -- lead the city in the number of homicides, accounting for 40 of the 82 killings recorded through June.
�But those neighborhoods rank near the bottom for robberies, which occur most frequently in the 1st and 3rd districts -- which encompass affluent communities in Northwest and downtown."
By Matthew Cella and Gary Emerling
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 14, 2006

D.C. pay increases not based on merit�

"For example, Lee E. Williams had earned $103,318 a year as the head of the D.C. Taxicab Commission, overseeing 15 employees. The city government boosted his salary by 3.5 percent, to $106,934, last year -- just before Mr. Williams was fired for incompetence.... Since 2002, the average D.C. government executive salary has grown 10 percent, from $121,905 to $134,252. The federal government's executive pay scale increased by 6.3 percent during the same period."
By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 18, 2006

D.C. fields fewer workers, but payroll cost soars

"The D.C. government's payroll grew by nearly $180 million between 2002 and last year, while its work force decreased by more than 2,000 personnel during that period, city records show.
In addition, the number of city workers earning salaries of $150,000 or more climbed from nine in 2002 to 43 last year, when the median income for a four-member D.C. family was $56,067..... 1,268 employees being paid an annual salary in excess of $100,000... In Baltimore, which has 628,670 residents and 15,500 city workers, 55 employees earned annual salaries of more than $100,000."
By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 17, 2006

Police Chief Declares D.C. Crime Emergency

"Thirteen people have been killed since July 1 in the District, and police are being pressured to take action by residents at community meetings and vigils to honor the dead. The victims included a popular store owner slain at closing time, a community activist killed in a park and a British citizen whose throat was slit in Georgetown. ... Despite the recent uptick in violence, the number of people killed this year is the same as at this point in 2005: 94. But the number of robberies is up 14 percent, and Ramsey and other commanders are concerned that more holdups will turn deadly. ... Ramsey temporarily reassigned Inspector Andy Solberg, who urged residents to report suspicious activity and said, "This is not a racial thing to say that black people are unusual in Georgetown." ... Lowaunz Tascoe, a black shop owner who has lived in Georgetown for almost 40 years, said Solberg had merely stated the truth. ... Officer Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the D.C. police labor committee for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1. "What we need is intelligent, comprehensive crime-fighting strategy rather than reactionary policing."
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
July 12, 2006

SUMMARY OF SPECIAL REPORT: Emergency Response to the Assault on David E. Rosenbaum

"The OIG team concludes that personnel from the Office of Unified Communications properly monitored the 911 call from Gramercy Street and immediately dispatched adequate resources to respond to the emergency. However, FEMS, MPD, and Howard personnel failed to respond to David E. Rosenbaum in accordance with established protocols. Individuals who played critical roles in providing these services failed to adhere to applicable policies, procedures, and other guidance from their respective employers. These failures included incomplete patient assessments, poor communication between emergency responders, and inadequate evaluation and documentation of the incident. The result, significant and unnecessary delays in identifying and treating Mr. Rosenbaum’s injuries, hindered recognition that a crime had been committed."
By Charles Willoughby
Inspector General
June 2006

Violent Robberies Make It Hard to Ignore D.C.'s Vicious Side

"So far this year, we've had a 95 percent increase in juveniles arrested for robberies, and it's not uncommon to have physical assaults in the process... According to D.C. police, 420 juveniles taken into custody on armed-robbery charges in the city this year had been arrested before. Including the robbery case, 144 of them have been arrested twice; 102, three times; 74, four times; 44, five times; 29, six times; 10, seven times; five, eight times; five, nine times; three, 10 times; one, 11 times; one, 12 times; and two, 14 times. ... To most of them, it's just a joke."
By Courtland Milloy
Washington Post
July 12, 2006

20% of fatal crashes involve young drivers�

"D.C. tops in teen-related deaths. The study found that although teen-related traffic fatalities fell 5.2 percent nationally from 1994 to 2004, the District's share shot up by more than 60 percent."
By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 30, 2006

Group Ranks D.C. Nation's No. 2 Speed Trap

Erik Scrum, spokesman for the National Motorists Association, says his organization defines a speed trap as "anywhere that you have the majority of traffic exceeding the speed limit and the police are taking advantage of that without having done any sort of engineering study."
By Hank Silverberg
WTOP Radio
June 30, 2006

For drivers, danger on the phone

A study calls phone use risky as driving drunk.
By Tom Avril
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 30, 2006

DCRA: Defending the City’s Ruling Aristocracy

Along with all the other shit they have to do, seven workers at the DCRA are charged with regulating thousands of rent-controlled apartments. How many thousands? Don’t ask them—there’s no list.
By Ryan Grim
Washington CityPaper
June 30, 2006