“I didn’t feel safer because I thought something was going on,” she said.
The final All Hands weekend for 2011 ended Oct. 23. D.C. police used to hold news conferences announcing the program and, afterward, release data on the results, touting arrests, weapons and drug seizures. That hasn’t happened since May 2010.
Lanier said the change was driven by community concern that it didn’t make sense to tell criminals when police would be out in full force. Under Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), the All Hands weekends have taken on a quieter tone.
“It’s just part of the strategy,” Lanier said. She continues to analyze All Hands data.
“We look at the statistics afterward and compare them to prior years to see if it was effective,” Lanier said. “There’s a lot of research behind this. It’s much more than just telling everyone to show up for work.”
Baumann has said the union may file additional grievances against the program. If Lanier wants more officers on the streets, he says, she should instead advocate for more money in the police budget.
In 2009, there were more than 4,000 officers. Lanier and Gray recently announced more funding for a police recruit class, which would add 120 officers and raise the size of the police force to 3,900 sworn officers by the end of fiscal 2012.
“Residents get frustrated about crime, and they blame the police when they should be blaming management,” Baumann said. “We need to have enough officers to put out on the street and still be doing detective work, crime-scene work, out in the schools and all the other functions that are necessary,” Baumann said.
On that point, at least, residents agree.
“When residents have police issues, the first thing they say is, ‘The police aren’t visible enough.’ All Hands on Deck creates that visibility,” said Eckington area resident Timothy Clark, a Ward 5 advisory neighborhood commissioner who says his neighbors complain about loitering, noise and, in some pockets, drug sales and prostitution. During All Hands, Clark says, complaints plummet.
But when it ends: “For a few days, the criminals stay away, knowing that the area is hot,” Clark said. “But after a while, if you don’t have persistent policing, of course they’re going to come back.”
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