As extra police flood D.C. streets this weekend, officers could take a no-confidence vote on Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
All Metropolitan Police Department officers have been pulled from vacation, desk duty and other details Friday through Sunday for an "All Hands on Deck" response to crime, Police Chief Cathy Lanier said.
"A flood of police in the streets is something that is a visible deterrent, but it also gives us the opportunity to interact with people in the community," Lanier said Friday.
Extra officers will be deployed in cruisers, on bikes and on foot in all seven police districts from 3 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Sunday.
Lanier started the All Hands on Deck initiative in 2007 in response to a summertime spike in crime, the department's website says. MPD has declared more than 30 All Hands on Deck periods of about 48 hours each since then, with an average decline in violent crime of about 10 percent during each period, Lanier said.
The D.C. homicide rate is up 43 percent in 2015 thus far, compared with the same period in 2014. One hundred three people have been killed.
Meanwhile, the D.C. Police Union says it is surveying officers for a possible no-confidence vote on Lanier, who received a 75 percent approval rating from registered voters polled in September 2014.
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With a spike in crime, Lanier and the union have become increasingly at odds over a solution. Rank-and-file officers are questioning the dismantling of vice units and taking issue with fixed posts that prevent officers from leaving designated areas.
"Over the past eight years we've had some very high-profile incidents where the chief's integrity has been called into question," union head Delroy Burton told WAMU. "The most frustrating thing right now for our members, though, is that we have an uptick in crime and they're being deployed in such a way that makes it extremely difficult for them to provide good police service."
The union is expected to tally the results of the vote on Sunday. Lanier responded to news of the vote on Friday.
"I've been on this department 25 years. I don't think the union speaks for every police officer, but they are the representation for the union members, so this is their right to implement their survey and see what the members think," she said.
Earlier this month, Lanier dismissed the union's criticism of her plan to cut crime.
"There's nothing that police officers hate more than change," she said.
