DC police captain cites bodycam footage of officers not making arrests, sparking backlash

This post was originally published on this site.

A political firestorm erupted this week after a Washington, D.C., internal police email appeared to reprimand rank-and-file officers for body camera footage allegedly showing them “finess[ing]” their way out of making arrests on reasonable grounds.

The news comes as the Trump administration cracks down on crime in the District of Columbia at the federal level.While crime rates havesteadily declinedfrom a peak in 2023, the nation’s capital continues to suffer per-capita violent crime at higher rates than the national average, according to FBI data.

TheCRIME-RIDDEN BLUE CITIES STRUGGLE TO COMBAT SHRINKING POLICE FORCES AS FEDS STEP IN TO CLEAN UP CHAOS

Police officers securing crime scene with tape in downtown Washington, D.C.

Police officers secure the area with crime scene tape after a shooting in downtown Washington, D.C., on Nov.26, 2025.Two National Guard members were shot near the White House, and police detained a suspect.(Drew Angerer/AFP)

Merrill’s letter, first obtained byWashington’s CBS affiliate, said the situation is getting many police officials in trouble for failing to recognize or correct classifications of interactions with the public.

“Please do not try and finesse your way out of an arrest it is not worth the consequences I assure you,” the memo said, urging police to make arrests or apply for warrants before detectives need to follow up on them.

�incorrect” and that MPD is investigating.

�not only typical of most departments, it is the law.”

Swope, who served for decades with the MPD and later wrote texts on police ethics and internal operations, said probable cause requires more than reasonable suspicion.

“It requires a higher degree of certainty,” he said.“[Probable cause] is when the facts and circumstances within an officer’s knowledge would lead a reasonable person to believe that a crime has been committed for which a summary arrest may be permitted.”

DC MAYOR REPORTS ‘GREAT MEETING’ WITH TRUMP AFTER PAST PUBLIC FEUDS, TOUTS ‘COMMON GROUND’ ON NATION’S CAPITAL

He said Merrill may have viewed body cams and believed in his own view that arrests should have been made, but that he was wrong to instruct officers to make arrests based solely on reasonable suspicion.

C.Police Unionfor comment but did not receive a response.

But Union President Gregg Pemberton told the CBS affiliate after the fact that he essentially, independently, agreed with Swope.

onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.

“The Union has reviewed Captain Merrill’s email and determined that the reason that our members are not making arrests based on reasonable articulable suspicion is because that’s illegal,” Pemberton told the outlet.

“We would expect a captain of a police patrol district to know that, but unfortunately, this command staff official has proven himself uninformed and incapable of managing police operations in the District of Columbia,” he added.

Charles coversmedia,

ADT data breach exposes customer information

May Day protests across Europe and Asia turn into anti-American, anti-Israel political battlegrounds