Several Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department officers either had their guns stolen or lost them during 2015, and Police Chief Cathy Lanier doesn’t seem too worried.
In March, a police officer lost his loaded handgun when he left it on the top of his car and drove off without it. Another cop, a lieutenant, lost his loaded gun at a restaurant in Maryland when he forgot to take it with him when he left, WUSA 9 reports.
Throughout the entire year, two guns were stolen and another three were lost — but Lanier says it’s no big deal.
“We don’t have an increase in officers losing their service weapons in the past. Does it happen? Yeah, it happens occasionally, but it’s not a frequent issue,” she told the television station.
One police officer had his gun and credit cards stolen from his car while it was parked on the street in December, and another officer had his gun stolen from his car while it was parked in front of his house in Maryland.
U.S. Capitol Police similarly had a problem holding onto their service weapons last year. Three of the police officers forgot to grab their guns after using the bathroom on Capitol Hill.
On Wednesday, Lanier and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held a press conference announcing a new police task force to combat robberies in the district. A local news crew was robbed just 100 feet away from the press conference, in plain view of the city officials.
The task force will employ criminal research specialists to identify trends in robberies and then relay that information to officers on the street who can respond and intercept the criminals committing ongoing robberies.
Several of the officers were in attendance at the news conference, but were unable to stop the robbery of the news van.
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