This post has been updated.
D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) lashed out Monday morning at the Fenty administration for blocking D.C. police from addressing a hearing on juveniles who escape supervision by the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.
Wells, whose Human Services Committee oversees DYRS, said the administration's last-minute decision "really defies belief."
The hearing, originally scheduled for last month, was prompted by recent high profile crimes alleged to have involved juveniles, including the slaying of Brian Betts, a D.C. school principal killed in his Silver Spring home.
DYRS Interim Director Marc Schindler is scheduled to appear late Monday at the hearing; the Fenty administration decided that Schindler's presence would be sufficient.
But Wells made clear that the police are supposed to play a significant role in locating juveniles and should have been at the hearing. Wells said the police wanted to participate in the hearing but were instructed not to.
Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said the roundtable was convened by the human services committee, and so the executive branch was represented by a human services official -- Schindler.
-- Henri E. Cauvin
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