But Crump, in a statement sent to the Blade, disputed Spangler’s claim.

*****
Sure, she did. The DC mayor’s office is very alluring for Chief Lanier, after all.

But who should we believe? Spangler– who volunteered his time and talents for several years to provide a relevant, LGBT-welcoming GLLU web site for DC’s LGBT community– or the new public relations mouthpiece for Chief Lanier … w/ eyes on higher office?

The Chief has an opportunity to continue real, relevant and useful outreach to the LGBT community of DC in preserving this useful web site. But Chief Lanier gives us the back of her hand– yet again.

Maybe the Chief feels MPD’s de facto strategy of burying anti-LGBT hate crimes is still working. After all, Mendelson is only too happy to tout Lanier’s wholly unsubstantiated excuse that ‘better reporting’ accounts for the continuous yearly rise in anti-LGBT hate crimes in DC.

Nonsense. It’s the proverbial ‘big lie’ repeated over, and over again. Sometimes by Gray and Mendelson, too.

Then there is all that pesky press coverage which is damaging LGBT and likely other tourism to DC.
See…
ADVOCATE.COM (26 Nov 2012)
Anti-LGBT Crime Still Increasing in Washington, D.C.
What will it take to make Washington, D.C. safe?
–and–
NEW YORK TIMES (24 Nov 2012)
Antigay Crime Remains Steady in Washington Despite Work of Special Unit

Lanier’s PR machine would have us believe that– unlike every other aspect of her command and control of MPD– the Chief cannot control those responding rank-and-file officers who did not recognize that hate crime last month in Columbia Heights.
See WaBlade story…
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/11/15/anti-gay-hate-crime-in-columbia-heights/

Isn’t it more likely that those responding officers thought they were doing the Chief’s bidding in NOT checking off the 251 Suspected Hate Crime box– and not calling GLLU to the scene immediately?

If the victim hadn’t known an activist, isn’t it likely that hate crime incident would have remain buried, and not classified as a hate crime to this day?

We have to wonder. Just how many hate crimes is similar police non-reporting hiding?

Then there is the question of how much due diligence is MPD applying to FIND and ARREST hate crimes perpetrators– when hate crimes are reported.

Here’s a relevant question. Indeed, it should really be an everyday question asked of MPD/GLLU– or better yet, directly of Chief Lanier– as a measure of the Chief’s success or failure in preventing anti-LGBT hate crimes.

About 165 anti-LGBT hate crimes have reported by MPD in the 4 full years (to date…i.e., 2008 thru 2011) of Lanier’s tenure as chief.

Of those 165 hate crimes, how many have been CLOSED WITH an ARREST by MPD?

The political truth is, if MPD doesn’t report anti-LGBT hate crimes, then the Chief won’t get blamed for not preventing them.

Two more questions, please…

What is our MPD Chief really doing to prevent that de facto anti-LGBT discrimination from occurring under her command? And doesn’t the Chief’s relative silence on the matter tacitly encourage it?