Federal prosecutors tossed one in five criminal cases brought by D.C. police in November, triggering a department review of search and seizure issues, evidence gathering and paperwork in hundreds of arrests.
The instant dismissal of hundreds of the nearly 2,000 cases brought by police that month led Assistant Chief Diane Groomes to order a review into whether poor police work led to cases being dropped by prosecutors.
But that review has drawn fire from police union heads who say it could have a chilling effect on officers charged with making arrests.
Groomes said she noticed too many instances in November in which assistant U.S. attorneys said there were serious issues preventing an indictment. She said she was particularly concerned about cases where prosecutors noted problems like incomplete paperwork or slipshod evidence collection.
“That’s a liability to the department,” said Groomes, who was promoted to head of patrols last fall. “I just want to make sure we are making good arrests. If we are but we’re not writing it right or saying it right, I want to fix that.”
She said the review of 400 arrests that were never formally charged will be used as training tool for her department and to better coordinate with prosecutors. Groomes said she does not intend to punish the officers.
D.C. requires police officers to process paperwork in court with federal prosecutors, an exercise that frustrates many cops because it takes many hours to complete. Cases in which the prosecutor determines there’s not enough probable cause to formally charge the suspect are tossed or “no papered.”
Arrests end up “no-papered” for various reasons: A complainant changes his or her mind; officers didn’t find the requisite amount of drugs to prove that a subject was dealing; or the case would better be handled through the civil courts.Gun possession cases are sometimes tossed because the weapon turns out to be inoperable, police said.
Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee, said he’s not opposed to improving the papering process, but he’s concerned that officers will be punished if prosecutors determine that the cop was ultimately responsible for the defendant not getting charged. Baumann’s also worried that an investigation into hundreds of cases will take officers off the streets.
“You don’t fix the problem,” he said. “All you do is make this a worse place to work and create a disincentive for police to be proactive and make arrests.”
