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This is especially frustrating when it comes to defendants charged with violent crimes being on the street while awaiting trial. Chief Contee says the average homicide suspect in D.C. has been arrested 11 previous times before allegedly killing someone. “We find ourselves in a system that allows people, after committing a violent offense, to be back out in our communities to further victimize people,” he said. “That’s where it’s broken.”
The past two years each saw more than 200 killings in the District. Homicides are up 17 percent compared with this time last year, with violent crime up 8 percent and property crime up 28 percent. Because of the proliferation of illegal guns, Chief Contee says the weaponry people use to commit crimes has evolved from revolvers to semiautomatic weapons to “ghost guns” and even automatic rifles.
Chief Contee was unfailingly candid during sessions with the Editorial Board, including about weaknesses in the overhaul of the D.C. criminal code that the federal government ultimately blocked from going into effect. He championed restoring the school resource officer program, which the D.C. Council voted to phase out, and spoke about the dangers of allowing the size of the overall force to atrophy by attrition.
During a conversation last month, he said officers keep leaving because they don’t feel respected or valued. “We have to demonstrate ourselves as being a city that’s supportive of police officers — period,” he said.
Chief Contee grew up in a city housing project. As a 12-year-old, he recalled, he kept a BB gun in his bed after a night when burglars ransacked his sleeping family’s apartment. In 1989, he joined the D.C. police as a cadet and rose through the ranks before getting promoted to acting chief four days before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Matthew M. Graves, U.S. attorney for D.C., notes that relations between his office and the police department have been strained at times in the past and said: “This is the best our collective relationships have ever been.” Chief Contee recommended the book “Bleeding Out,” by Thomas Abt, at their first meeting; Mr. Graves finished it before their second. They agreed on a strategy to proactively investigate the limited number of individuals, and city blocks, that seem to be magnets for most violence. “We’ve always been aligned in terms of what we need to be doing,” said Mr. Graves.
Chief Contee said he’s leaving with his head high and no bitterness, “because I did everything that I possibly could for my city.” He also leaves big shoes to fill.
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