Ramsey Rebuts Critics of Vacation Cruise

Chief Says Long-Planned Family Holiday Came as Trends Improved

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey yesterday defended his decision to take a week-long Mediterranean cruise during the city's crime emergency, a move that has angered the police union and some rank-and-file officers.

"People accuse me of a lot of things, but not working hard is not one of them," Ramsey said, noting that this was his second vacation since taking the job in 1998. "You don't hear about me going here and there like other people are accused of."

Ramsey took five days off last week to vacation with his family. He returned to the District on Saturday night and went out on patrol after he got home from the airport, he said.

Officer Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the D.C. police labor committee for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1, said he has received calls daily from officers angry about the chief's time off.

"It's a crime emergency, and we need him here as a leader," Baumann said.

Ramsey declared the crime emergency July 11 because of a rise in homicides and robberies. The declaration, which remains in effect, requires officers to work six days a week. Additionally, officers who requested vacation after the crime emergency was announced were not necessarily granted the time off. Those who asked for vacation days before the emergency could take the time as planned.

Baumann said he did not think it was fair for the department to restrict vacation requests while Ramsey was away. "If everybody needs to be here working six days a week, then it was a bad idea for the chief to take off," Baumann said.

Ward 3 D.C. Council candidate Erik Gaull also questioned Ramsey's timing. He sent out a news release Monday voicing "extreme concern" that Ramsey was gone for a week of the emergency.

Ramsey said that over the years, he has taken occasional days off, mostly when his father was ill and died. He said that he had planned this trip in November and that he had told his scheduler in March that he would take the time off. He had paid for the trip by March.

The chief said he has 28 vacation days a year and generally does not use them. The only other vacation he has taken during his tenure as D.C. chief was last year, when he went to Pennsylvania State University to drop off his son for his first year of college, he said.

Ramsey, who said he called his commanders and checked in every day he was away, said he is not paid for vacation days he does not use.

Ramsey added that he considered not taking the vacation because of the emergency but that he decided to go because he saw crime trends improving.

When the crime emergency started, robberies were up by 14 percent compared with the same period last year. As of yesterday, robberies were up 8 percent, he said.