Chief Ramsey To Step Down, Sources Say

Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who chairs the council's Judiciary Committee, said Ramsey's exit sends a negative signal to potential replacements. "Someone who has a national reputation as an excellent chief, it does not look good to the outside when you get rid of him," Mendelson said.

Ramsey has been a telegenic chief since he arrived in Washington in 1998, deft in front of a bank of microphones and a larger-than-life presence at community meetings. Sometimes referred to as a "celebrity police chief," he is well-known in national police circles and frequently speaks publicly about social problems in the city.

Ramsey has outlasted most big city police chiefs, who generally serve for four years or fewer, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.

"The job is like riding a bronco," Wexler said. "There are so many issues that come about, it takes its toll. It's rare to find someone who is as hard-working and optimistic as Chief Ramsey."

Ramsey came to Washington from the Chicago police department, where he had worked for 29 years and was deputy superintendent. He followed the scandal-marked tenure of D.C. Chief Larry D. Soulsby, who resigned amid questions about his conduct. Soulsby's roommate pleaded guilty to charges of theft, wire fraud and extortion. Soulsby, never charged with any crimes, said he quit to spare the department further controversy.

Ramsey took over at a time when D.C. officers were shooting civilians at rates higher than in any comparably sized department in the nation. Among his first acts were asking the Justice Department to initiate review into the civilian shootings and mandating annual training for officers.

He cracked down on officers abusing medical leave, updated police stations and supplied officers with computers and new cruisers. He built a $7.2 million state-of-the art command center, where he holds crime briefings each morning.

He issued "crime emergencies" to put more officers on the street when they were needed most; led the department through the post-Sept. 11 period; and added dozens of street cameras for traffic, crime enforcement and crowd control. He recently installed a specialized gunshot-detection system in some of the city's most violent neighborhoods.

Crime has dropped significantly since Ramsey became chief. But Ramsey remains concerned about what he has called a "culture of violence" in the city and decried a reluctance by witnesses to come forward, especially in homicide cases. He expressed frustration, for example, about the dearth of witnesses to emerge in the killing last year of 9-year-old Donte Manning, shot on a Northwest street, saying, "We shouldn't have to work this hard to solve a murder of a 9-year-old."

Williams has repeatedly voiced support for Ramsey, but Fenty has said he wants officers to be more engaged with the community and have an increased presence in neighborhoods. The force has 3,800 officers, and Fenty has said the public does not see enough of them working on the streets.

The chief has drawn criticism over the years, and the city settled civil lawsuits over his handling of the 2002 anti-globalization protest in Pershing Park near the White House. Police kept several hundred protesters from leaving the park, then arrested them without giving them proper warning.

Ramsey also has had a tense relationship with his police union.

"There is deep, deep dissatisfaction in the department, and morale is low," said Officer Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the D.C. police labor committee for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1. "Things need to change."

There have been frequent gripes that there are not enough officers on patrols in neighborhoods and that investigators do not adequately follow up on crimes, ranging from burglaries to homicides.

Ramsey came to Washington with a five-year contract. When it came time to renew it, Fenty, a Ward 4 council member, voted against giving the chief a raise, saying: "I'm just left with the feeling that we are headed in the wrong direction at a very crucial point. We are complicitly supporting mediocrity." The council raised Ramsey's salary, now $175,000 a year.

Ramsey's departure would come before the end of his contract, which expires in April 2008. It was unclear whether the city would compensate Ramsey for the rest of his contract.