Every employee -- in government or private business -- deserves the right to "reasonable security" while they're in the workplace, but no one can ever be 100 percent safe, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Friday.
Lanier made the comment Friday on the WAMU radio "Politics Hour" with host Kojo Nnamdi in response to a shooting Oct. 13 at a city public works site in northeast Washington. One man was killed and another serioiusly injured when a gunman -- wearing a public works jacket -- opened fire and then fled. The gunman has not been caught.
The shooting raised questions about dozens of city work yards and other sites that are open and accessible to most anyone.
Lanier said better security -- lighting and video cameras and fences -- can deter crimes. But it can never be foolproof, she said.
"If you have somebody who is intent on commiting a violent crime like that," Lanier said, "and they are intent on carrying it out in a certain, particular place, it would be extremely difficult to make it completely inaccessible. I just don't think there is any foolproof plan you could put in place there."
D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham -- chairman of the Public Works Committee -- held a hearing on the shooting Friday, but he declined to call his inquiry an investigation.
