D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday defended her decision to appoint Chief Robert J. Contee III, a longtime member of the Metropolitan Police Department, as the agency’s acting head instead of conducting a national search for a candidate.
“I’ve had the occasion to appoint a police chief, to do a national search, to do very extensive community engagement, to be engaged in the following year with the changes in policing, to be fully briefed on the various commissions and task forces that have been empaneled, so I think we have a very good hold of the issues,” Miss Bowser said, referring to the six-month process that led to her 2017 appointment of soon-to-be-retired Chief Peter Newsham.
A 31-year MPD veteran, Chief Contee is the only person Miss Bowser interviewed for the job, and will be the third consecutive official promoted from within the department to lead the force — following Chief Newsham and his predecessor, Chief Cathy Lanier.
When Chief Newsham’s upcoming retirement was announced last month, several D.C. Council members stressed that the next police chief must be someone who can fight racism and restore the public’s trust in its officers.
Chief Contee’s appointment must be approved by city lawmakers. Council member Charles Allen, chairman of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, said the vetting process will be announced in the new year, adding that “the public will play an important role and the committee will create several ways for input to be heard.”
The Ward 6 Democrat also reiterated statements he had made about the qualities the next police chief should have, including being “prepared to tackle systemic racism in the District” and taking “a public health approach to eliminating violence.”
Outgoing council member David Grosso tweeted Tuesday that “a public search process would have gone a long way to build critical trust in D.C.’s next police chief.”
“The mayor’s decision to ignore calls for such a process will only make the next chief’s job more difficult,” said Mr. Grosso, at-large independent.
Council member Kenyan McDuffie said the mayor’s appointment “did not follow the rigorous community engagement effort that was requested by many, however the process is not over.”
The Ward 5 Democrat said residents can count on him “to ensure the public voice is heard” throughout the vetting process, during which he aims to determine whether Chief Contee believes “fundamental changes” in policing are “warranted.”
At a press briefing with the mayor on Tuesday, Chief Contee was asked about taking a “public health approach” to fighting crime as opposed to a lock-’em-up approach. He said: “I do not believe that it’s an either-or concept. I think that you have to have both.”
“I think that there are some people that are violent in our communities that need to go to jail, period,” the chief said. “I think that there are some people in our community, like my father as an example, who are sick, who have issues that are not violent in nature and need treatment, really, to resolve those issues — not incarceration.”
Chief Contee added that the District is rich in the resources necessary to accomplish both.
Asked about the nearly 200 homicides in the city this year that constitute a 15-year high, Chief Contee said “the levels we are experiencing are simply not acceptable and repeat offenders must be held accountable.”
The local police union tweeted Tuesday that it “welcomes” Chief Contee.
“There is no one more apt to fill the position. We look forward to working with him on the issues facing the District and the Department,” the union said.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, applauded his appointment Tuesday and said in a statement “I support the choice to promote from within and look forward to the confirmation process.”
Also during Tuesday’s press briefing, Miss Bowser announced the departure of Karima Holmes, who served for nearly five years as the director of the Office of Unified Communications.
Ms. Holmes was appointed by the mayor in 2016, and her resignation comes amid a D.C. auditor examination of — and public criticism about — the 911 operations division.
Ms. Holmes is set to leave after the presidential inauguration in January, and the audit is expected to be released in May.
• Emily Zantow can be reached at ezantow@washingtontimes.com.
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