Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police Department is running what amounts to a very expensive parking lot. While residents dial 911, nearly 200 department vehicles have been sidelined for maintenance or repairs rather than patrolling the streets. An investigation by the 7News I-Team found rows of cruisers, vans, and specialty vehicles parked behind fences at the department’s Northeast DC fleet facility, some of which appeared to have gone untouched for months.
It was, as the reporters aptly noted, more reminiscent of a game day parking lot than an active police fleet operation.
The numbers here are not subtle. Of MPD’s 533 marked patrol cruisers, 81 have been pulled from service for repairs so far this year. That works out to roughly one in every seven patrol cars sitting idle instead of covering a beat. At its worst point, nearly one in four marked patrol vehicles in the Third District alone was out of rotation…