D.C. police need better patrols, more detectives, according to auditor

Problems with misassigned patrol officers and an ongoing shortage of detectives limit the ability of the D.C. police department to do its job, according to a new report released Thursday.

The Office of the D.C. Auditor said Metropolitan Police Department officers need to be moved from overnight shifts and slotted into daytime and evening hours to make better use of patrol division staff.

The report also suggested MPD focus more patrols in the Seventh District, which sits east of the Anacostia River and has historically struggled with crime, and the Third District, which covers neighborhoods such as the U Street Corridor, Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan in Northwest.

The auditor said MPD’s Investigative Services Bureau, which is where its detectives work, needs to add 65 more investigators.

The manpower is needed to address robberies, burglaries and assaults in the city, according to the report. 

MPD is short 11 detectives in its carjacking unit, five in its child sex abuse unit and four in its sexual assault and human trafficking unit.

The auditor said the lack of detectives affects the Third and Seventh districts, as well as the Sixth District, which also sits east of the Anacostia and includes neighborhoods with long-running crime problems.

MPD refuted the report’s core findings in a statement to The Washington Times.

“The central conclusion of the report — that there is sufficient staffing in patrol and too many officers working patrol at night — is at odds with reality and does not align with the feedback from residents and businesses throughout the city,” the department said.

The report suggested moving 77 officers off the overnight shifts, and reassigning 52 of those officers to the day shift and seven more to the evening shift.

The auditor’s office justified this proposal by saying a third of patrol staff are working during the overnight shift, but that time period only receives a quarter of all calls for service.

Seventeen additional officers are needed for patrol in the Third District, while 12 more officers are needed on patrol in the Seventh District, according to the report.

The auditor also said the MPD should move sworn officers out of positions that can be filled by civilian staffers, who should also be hired in greater numbers.

Violent crime is down 35% so far this year, with major drops in the shootings, carjackings and muggings that terrorized D.C. residents in 2023. 

The District recorded the highest number of homicides since the late 1990s last year.

The drop in crime rates comes as MPD is at a 50-year low in staffing. The department said attrition has slowed this year, and more officers were hired in 2024 and more civilians are expected to join the force in the near future.