Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham says the District needs more homegrown officers not only to bolster the police force’s ranks but also to foster a sense of community with D.C. residents.
“We hear from a lot of folks who live here that they want to see the police department take a proactive approach to getting young people in D.C. to become police officers,” Chief Newsham told The Washington Times in an interview. “They’re familiar with the neighborhoods and the uniqueness of Washington, D.C.”
Chief Newsham admitted that kids in the city have been reluctant to take the path toward becoming an officer because of “some of the things we’ve seen being said about police.”
“But we owe it to let kids know that this is a really good job,” he said. “It’s a service industry where you’re helping people.”
Metropolitan Police Department statistics from 2014 show that only 17 percent of officers actually live in the city. About 62 percent live in Maryland and nearly 20 percent in Virginia. Newer statistics were not immediately available.
The police department now is aiming to double its cadet class — a program that offers training for city dwellers who want to earn college credits on their way to becoming an officer. The program targets D.C. residents between 17 and 24 years old who are attending or have graduated from a city high school, or have received their GED from the District.
Cadets earn up to 60 college credits at the University of the District of Columbia Community College, and work part time at the police department while attending UDC.
The city’s $1.6 million investment in cadet training will up the graduating class from 35 to 70 next year, putting more D.C. natives on the streets patrolling neighborhoods they know.
“By recruiting more talent from within the community, we will be able to continue meeting the needs of our residents while building a safer, stronger D.C.,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday at a press conference at the Metropolitan Police Academy in Southwest. “Our officers are committed to community policing, and they work hard to earn and keep the trust of the people they serve.”
The expanded program will be included in Miss Bowser’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal in April, which must be approved by the D.C. Council.
Council member Charles Allen heads the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the police department. He signaled support Tuesday for the funding increase, saying officers who live in the city develop deep, personal relationships with the communities they patrol.
“Doubling the cadet program makes sense,” Mr. Allen, Ward 6 Democrat, said in an interview.
The push comes as police staffing has fallen to just over 3,800 officers due to a massive retirement bubble from officers who were hired in the 1980s and 1990s, when city crime was at it’s peak and the District was known as the “murder capital.”
Before leaving the department last fall, then-Chief Cathy Lanier said that a 4,200-officer force is the right size for the city and that 3,800 officers is dangerously low.
Some lawmakers have other ideas for bolstering the force. Last month, Mr. Allen proposed a housing assistance package for officers that would include a $10,000 matching grant and a $10,000 deferred home loan for officers and first responders who buy homes in the District.
“It is critical that our first responders live in the District, as this allows them to be invested in the communities they serve,” Mr. Allen said last month. “When I speak with officers, they tell me that the No. 1 factor preventing them from becoming District residents is the cost of housing.”
Council member Elissa Silverman, at-large independent, also backed some kind of housing assistance to incentivize officers to live in the city.
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