00:00The head of the D.C. Police Union is accusing the Metro Police Department of lowering felonies to lesser crimes to make D.C. look safer than it really is.
00:10Now, the chair of the D.C. City Council is telling Congress under oath that Union head Greg Pemberton is lying.
00:18Mr. Pemberton lying? Head of the FOP?
00:21Yes.
00:21You think he's lying?
00:24Wow.
00:24Here's the accusations from the D.C. Police Union and some of its officers, as described by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.
00:35Mr. Pemberton said, when our members respond to the scene of a felony offense, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on the scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense.
00:46Councilman Mendelsohn wanted to say more about the accusations, citing ongoing investigations by the D.O.J., Congress, and the Metro Police Department.
00:55In response to Mendelsohn's accusation, Union Chair Greg Pemberton said,
00:59I hope that Chairman Mendelsohn has time to correct or amend his testimony before he himself is investigated for perjury and lying to Congress.
01:08The accusation was made during a House Oversight Committee hearing which focused on crime in the district.
01:13Congressional Democrats and district leadership repeatedly called for the restoration of $1.1 billion that was stripped from their budget after Congress passed a spending bill that forced D.C. to keep its 2024 spending level for 2025.
01:28That additional $1.1 billion would largely go to public safety and education.
01:32So lack of full autonomy also prevents us from using the money that we raised in taxes, like happened this year.
01:42Taxes that we raised in the district cut from our approved budget, which forced us to cut services, including the pay raises that our police officers are due, being delayed until this October.
01:58D.C. wants to use that money to hire an additional 600 police officers and give current officers a 13 percent raise.
02:06But that's delayed due to the funding cut.
02:08The continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded for seven weeks past September 30th includes a measure that would restore D.C.'s $1.1 billion.
02:19But Congress may not have enough time to approve it.
02:22They've only got 12 days.
02:23I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Hour News.
02:25For more unbiased reporting straight from our nation's capital, download the SAN app.
Be the first to comment