WASHINGTON - July 14 - The recent series of crimes on the National Mall underscore warnings raised in December 2003 by then-Chief Teresa Chambers about the effects of staff shortages in the U.S. Park Police. Chambers, who contended that the Park Police was not adequately staffed to meet its law enforcement obligations in the nation’s capital, was fired for confirming those conditions in an interview with The Washington Post, a termination she is still seeking to overturn.
The U.S. Park Police now has wide-ranging anti-terrorism duties, including evacuation planning for the Statue of Liberty and providing escort duties for Vice-President Dick Cheney. The U.S. Park Police is also responsible for patrolling the National Mall, including such icons as the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, as well as numerous other parks and five major parkways in the D.C. metro area.
. . .
Following the 9/11 attacks, then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton ordered Park Police officers to maintain fixed positions on the Mall. In the fall of 2003, the Chair of the Fraternal Order of Police chapter representing the Park Police, Leon (“Jeff”) Capps wrote to Secretary Norton protesting that the fixed postings came at the expense of visitor safety. Capps never received a response to his letter.
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The July attacks on the National Mall follow a series of other robberies this May. In addition, this week, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey has declared a “law enforcement emergency,” due to outbreaks of crime throughout the city.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0714-10.htm
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