FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Jonathan Aronie
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
202.639.7472
Independent Monitor
for DC Metropolitan Police Department Issues First Report
Washington, DC, June 12, 2002—The Office of
the Independent Monitor (“OIM”) issued its first official report today, two
months after its formation to monitor compliance with the landmark Memorandum
of Agreement (“MOA”) entered into among the District of Columbia, its
Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) and the Department of Justice on use of
force issues and related matters. The 74‑page report, which assesses the
MPD’s and the City’s compliance with the terms of the MOA, was issued to
coincide with the one-year anniversary of the signing of the agreement in June
2001.
The report is the culmination of two months
of intensive work in which the OIM gathered and analyzed a broad range of
information concerning the MPD’s and the City’s compliance with the terms of
the agreement. The report provides substantial background information on the
events that prompted the MPD to invite the Justice Department to investigate
the MPD and to provide technical assistance for reform starting in 1999, events
that culminated in June 2001 with the signing of the agreement. The signing of the
MOA occurred after the MPD already had made significant changes in the way it
handles use of force matters involving police officers.
The agreement provides for the Independent
Monitor to review and report on the implementation of a series of reforms agreed
to by the MPD. These reforms are in the areas of establishing appropriate
policies for the use of force, handling internal investigations of the use of
force, investigating allegations of misconduct against MPD officers, creating
management and computer systems to ensure civil rights integrity, and training.
According to the terms of the agreement, the independent monitor will assess
the MPD’s compliance with the terms of the agreement for a period of five
years.
The report is divided into three main chapters.
The first chapter describes the history behind the MOA, including the Justice
Department’s investigation of the MPD at Chief Ramsey’s request beginning in
early 1999, and discusses the initial activities of the OIM. The second chapter
addresses the MPD’s and the City’s activities to comply with the agreement
after its signing. The third—and, by far, the most lengthy—chapter discusses
the full range of requirements imposed on the MPD and the City by the MOA,
describes the status of compliance activities relating to those requirements
and provides a preliminary assessment of where the MPD and City stand on
compliance with the agreement.
In reviewing the MPD’s and the City’s
compliance with the MOA over the past year, the OIM found that, despite substantial
progress since 1999 in reforming the way the MPD manages police use of force
issues, the MPD has missed virtually all of the deadlines for the
accomplishment of specific tasks specified in the agreement, many of which were
required to be completed last summer, within 30 or 60 days of the signing of
the agreement. The report attributes the missed deadlines to the initial
failure of the MPD to organize itself properly to address the tasks required by
the MOA and to the failure to assign a high enough priority to compliance with
the MOA, both within the MPD and within the City. However, the report observes
that in recent months the MPD has substantially reformed the way it is
addressing compliance issues and that there is evidence of significant progress
by the MPD in dealing with its many responsibilities under the MOA.
According to Independent Monitor Michael R.
Bromwich, a partner and head of the Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver &
Jacobson Internal Investigations, Compliance and Monitoring practice group, “We
have been concerned to find that missed deadlines and serious delays in dealing
with the requirements of the agreement have marred the MPD’s and the City’s
performance in living up to its commitments under the agreement. However, we
have been impressed with Chief Ramsey’s candid recognition of these problems
and his determination to turn things around in short order.” The MPD’s
compliance efforts have recently been reorganized and now are coordinated by a
Compliance Monitoring Team (“CMT”) within the MPD’s Office of Professional
Responsibility. The report notes the improved performance by the MPD since the
CMT was created. According to Bromwich, “The MPD has a lot of hard work ahead
of it in the months to come to make up for lost time. Based on what we have
seen recently, it appears that the commitment exists to get the job done. We
will continue to assess the MPD’s performance in upcoming reports.” Under the
agreement, the OIM is required to issue public reports on a quarterly basis.
The OIM’s report, as well as other materials
relating to the MOA, are available to the public on the OIM’s Website, www.policemonitor.org.
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Note: A summary of the agreement between the Justice Department and the District of Columbia appears at www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/documents/dcsummary.htm; the full agreement appears at www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/documents/dcmoa.htm; and the findings of the Justice Department’s investigation appear at www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/documents/dcfindings.htm. Each document is accessible through www.policemonitor.org.