Policing In the Heart of the Empire: The Secrets of the DC Metro Police Department
Policing in Washington D.C. has a volatile history, and with the recent increase in public debate regarding police brutality and officer involved shootings, especially those of unarmed black people, one would imagine that police departments around the country would be doing whatever they could to repair their image and foster healthier ties with the communities they police. One would be led to believe that police departments would do what they could do dispel what is known as the “blue code of silence”, the existence of which is feeding the narrative that police officers exist to protect one another (including corrupt cops) over the public they are supposed to serve and protect. Transparency is one of the keys to establishing greater trust, and that was a concern that came up often during a recent forum hosted by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. The forum, titled ‘The State of Policing in Black America’ featured a panel of 3 accomplished attorneys, and the Metro PD Inspector and FOIA officer.
One thing that should be noted before going any further is that during the 1990’s, the Metro PD shot and killed more people per resident than any other large city police force in the country. This is a city that has dealt with heavy handed policing and the feeling at the forum was that many people are still feeling like that hasn’t changed. One D.C. family felt the heavy hand of the law when they least expected it, in the early hours of the morning. On a morning day in January, 2016, Darrel Gilmore, a single father of seven, who was present with his family at the forum, had to watch while a SWAT style raid ensued in his house. Police busted in with a warrant searching for an individual with no ties to the family, stuck guns in the faces of his children, handcuffed him while he was indecent, and busted up his house with little remorse for the error they committed. Nothing came of an investigation into the matter, and two years later, he is still seeking some form of justice for what happened to his family.
Instances like this should be of concern to everyone, especially in a country where the militarization of police has increased exponentially. Through the Pentagon’s 1033 program, a program which has allowed police to collect excess military grade equipment since 1997, police around the country have not only adopted the militarized look, but also the culture. The Washington Metro PD has also been a beneficiary of the program. According to a 2016 study from Open the Books, a Chicago based non-profit dedicated to capturing and publishing government expenditures at all levels, the Metro PD has procured 500 M16/M14 rifles. Also through the program, the Metro Transit Police followed a process to obtain 134.5 lbs. of C4, TNT, potassium chlorate, semtex, and other explosives over the next 9 years. The report noted that the number of rifles obtained by the Metro PD is equal to half of what the entire state of New Jersey received in rifles.
This procurement of excess military grade equipment was not discussed at the forum, which makes one wonder why this is such a secret. Why would the Metro Transit Police need all that explosive material, and why does any police force need military grade assault rifles? This should be of particular concern when examining a fairly recent story involving a lesser known unit of the Metro PD. At the forum, there was a discussion about the controversy surrounding the Metro PD Gun Recovery Unit, which seems to act as a branch of the Narcotics and Special Investigations Division. A group of activists uncovered a photo consisting of members of this unit standing behind a logo which featured a skull and crossbones with a bullet hole in the forehead, signifying a kill shot. People at the forum detailed run-ins they experienced with this unit, with witnesses saying they saw this symbol on the clothing they wore. When asked about any investigations that took place at the forum, MPD Inspector Vendette Parker noted that an internal investigation occurred and disciplinary actions were taken, but offered no more details on what those actions were. Law 4 Black Lives DC has circulated a petition calling on the MPD to disband the Gun Recovery Unit. You can sign the petition here.
Racial bias in policing was also a major concern at the forum, with a good portion of the discussion centering around how the racism can be trained out of racist cops. Netfa Freeman of Pan African Community Action and WPFW radio’s ‘Voices with Vision’, captured some great audio of the event. You can listen to the full radio show with the footage here (fast forward to around 35:00 to hear the back and forth regarding racial bias training). When asked about how to train a racist cop, the response from Metro PD Inspector Vendette Parker was “You don’t. You get rid of them”. She goes on to say that better screening and questioning during the hiring process has proven effective. There is another training offered to the Metro PD, which is a 10 hr crash course on critical race theory, which takes place at the National Museum of African American History. Washington D.C. is the only city to offer this kind of training to their police officers.
This of course doesn’t account for the phenomenon of what are known as “Ghost Skins”. According to FBI reports that were published last year, the FBI was quietly investigating the infiltration of law enforcement by White Supremacist groups. According to the report, “Ghost Skins” describe “those who avoid overt displays of their beliefs to blend into society and covertly advance white supremacist causes.” This is basically a tactic of white supremacist groups to covertly place their people into law enforcement, act like they aren’t white supremacists in order to build relationships with people within the ranks for the purpose of recruitment. When Netfa Freeman asked Attorney General Racine and Inspector Parker about this phenomenon after the event, they both were unaware of the FBI report and couldn’t speak on any sort of investigation of this within the ranks of the DC Metro PD (Audio of their question begins at 47:00 and 49:00 of the show). Please show your support for this great reporting by donating to WPFW ‘Voices with Vision’ (you can donate here).
Another thing that wasn’t covered at the forum was the training of Metro PD officers in Israel, and the effects of such training on the policing culture. The following night after the event, I had the chance to attend a forum at Dorthy Day Catholic Worker DC, which hosted a forum on the topic of what is called “Deadly Exchange” by the organization Jewish Voice for Peace. I have written previously about this phenomenon where American police officers from all around the country take part in a training pilgrimage to Israel to receive counter intelligence training from Israeli Defense Forces. This forum, with speaker Benjamin Douglass of Jewish Voice for Peace, focused on DC police officers and their connection to these programs. These exchange programs are facilitated by organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the Jewish Institute of National Security (JINSA), basically the who’s who of the Israeli lobby. Considering all of these organizations have their headquarters in Washington, DC, these programs should require a particular special attention.
Thanks to a public records request from Jewish Voice for Peace, we know that First District Police Commander Morgan Kane went to Israel last year as part of this program. This revelation received a public rebuking from DC councilmember David Grosso, who said in a letter to police chief Peter Newsham “I am concerned that we are not doing enough to prevent the militarization of law enforcement in the District of Columbia”.
The letter goes on to say:
Although MPD participation in this program is longstanding, I encourage you to reconsider it and instead focus officers’ time and other department resources on trainings that emphasize non violent and community relationship building.
These are wise words considering the reputation of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which operates on an informal “shoot to kill” policy which is backed by many high level officials in Israel, according to a report from Human Rights Watch. IDF soldiers are also not known for their ability to build relationships with the communities they occupy. This is due to the fact that Israel operates as an effective apartheid state, and the occupied Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem are treated as enemies of the state and have little rights. Israel also has a problem with discrimination, with as many as 60% of the people arrested being non-Jews. The longstanding nature of this program is also noted, and according to Benjamin Douglass, the last 3 DC chiefs of police have all been associated with taking part in these exchange programs. Former U.S. Capitol police chief Terrance Gainer publicly referred to Israel as the “Harvard of counter-terrorism”.
One possible step that the Metro PD can take towards greater openness and transparency is to take part in the Police Data Initiative. This is a program that over 130 local law enforcement agencies take part in to publish various data sets on things such as best practices, technical guidance, etc. It is not a perfect solution, but it could be a start, and it could possibly lead to some answers regarding some of the questions posed in this article. There are many other possible solutions to our policing problem in this country, which I hope to further explore in future articles, but for now I wanted to highlight some issues that seem to be flying under the radar, and some things that people should at least think about when it comes to the topic of policing in Washington, DC. As a relatively new resident of DC, I still have much to learn, but what I discerned from the forums I attended is that these issues are greatly affecting the lives of people, and these stories are real. They need to be told, and the policing system that affects the lives of so many in the district needs to have a light shed on it to see into those dark crevices where some of the aforementioned activities take place.
If you want to make a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Metro Police Department, that can be done here.
