FB Residents Angry at Transfer of Popular Cop
Neighbors in Foggy Bottom are outraged that they’re losing a popular police lieutenant who they say is being punished for his good deeds.Lt. Phil Lanciano has been a fixture in the upscale neighborhood for years but he was recently — and suddenly — transferred to the ultraviolent 6th District, east of the Anacostia River. It’s a move that’s outraged neighbors, who say that police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Adrian Fenty are asset-stripping their neighborhood.
“Another Fenty hatchet job,” resident Marilyn Rubin told The Examiner. “The neighborhood is shocked and outraged.”
Lanier announced the transfer in an internal memo that went out Oct. 24 — while Lanciano was in Florida attending a training conference. The lieutenant didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Lanier has told neighbors that she thinks highly of Lanciano but that he’s desperately needed elsewhere.
“We have to make a real concentrated effort in the few persistent areas over the next few months, and that will take strong leadership and experience at all levels,” the chief said in an e-mail to neighbors. “So I ask that u please bear with us with that in mind.”
For many, Lanciano is the idealization of Lanier’s promised “community policing” approach. He routinely briefs the neighborhood about crime trends, deploys his officers quickly and is constantly talking with residents to stay ahead of the bad guys.
Neighbor Ron Cocome, who is leading a letter-writing campaign to city leaders, told Lanier he was angry that Foggy Bottom’s “needs never seem to come first.”
“Lt. Lanciano is needed in this community,” he said.
Police union chairman Kris Baumann said he doesn’t blame neighbors for their anger. Lanciano wasn’t given a chance to mentor a replacement and Baumann said he’s not satisfied with Lanier’s explanation.
“How can they claim to be following the community policing model?” he said. “Here you had your poster boy and they uproot him and send him where he’ll have to start all over.”
Efforts to reach Lanier were unsuccessful.
The Examiner Article By Bill Myers
2 Comments
Plus, he has also been part of a unique team of Government lawyers offering their skills and experience to the DC Government, featuring late nights, long hours, on top of a full-time government job, facing difficult DC problems that have benefitted from his skill and experience as a senior attorney in perhaps DC’s only 85% attorney-filled team of dedicated pro-bono civil servants. His continued service on the ANC can be attested to by numerous members of the public who have seen his contributions in action.
David Lehrman
On behalf of the West End’s Friends of Francis Field (FFF), I was
disheartened to hear that Lieutenant Lanciano was surprisingly
transferred from our neighborhood within the Second District to the
Sixth District.
FFF, as part of our effort to improve the Francis green space, had
recently begun to talk with him about how we can address the ongoing
issue of illicit activities that occur within Rock Creek Park around
both Francis-Stevens School and the residences on M, N and 25th
Streets, NW.
From the onset and quite expeditiously, he offered a breadth and
depth of knowledge about our neighborhood, patterns of behavior,
safety measures attempted in the past and future ideas about how we
can tackle what feels like an intractable issue.
It is this level of understanding of a neighborhood that residents
need, want and expect in our police leaders. The level of
experience within specific neighborhoods directly impacts the
quickness and consistency in the police’s ability to react to the
unique crime and safety issues we face.
Friends of Francis Field strongly supports his continued work within
PSA 207 as has been articulated by our Advisory Neighborhood
Commission, the citizens associations and major corporate organizations.
Sincerely,
Rebecca K. Coder
Friends of Francis Field
2501 M Street, NW #721
Washington, DC 20037