Any public relations officials worth their salt know that Fridays are when you drop the bad news. The Friday afternoon news dump, as the practice is known, is meant to bury embarrassing, unflattering, or otherwise dirty deeds of government officials. Readers and viewers, tired from a long work week, might tune out of the news cycle until Monday. By then, Friday is old news.

So it’s notable that the Metropolitan Police Department sent an email last Friday at 4:38 p.m. summoning reporters to an 11th floor conference room at One Judiciary Square for a 5:30 p.m. press conference to discuss “recent misconduct investigations involving MPD members.”

MPD Chief Robert Contee announced that seven cops, including two sergeants, working on the specialized crime suppression team in the Seventh District are under investigation for allegedly allowing people in possession of illegal firearms to walk free. 

Contee said MPD received an unrelated complaint on Sept. 11 about two officers. After a review of body worn camera footage, officials discovered that they had confiscated a firearm but failed to arrest the suspect. Contee said the officers’ report did not match the body camera footage.

Internal affairs agents reviewed an additional three months’ worth of body camera footage and found that five more officers were involved in similar alleged misconduct. All seven officers were put on non-contact status while the investigation continues, Contee said, adding that the 12 or so remaining officers in that particular unit have been reassigned while the investigation continues.

Contee said the ongoing probe, which includes review of the entire department, is solely in the hands of MPD’s Internal Affairs Division, though the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecutes felony crimes in D.C., has been made aware. “We’d be foolish not to check everything that these members have been doing,” Contee said.

It is unusual for MPD to voluntarily release details of an internal investigation, much less one that is incomplete, and Contee emphasized his commitment to transparency with the community. Shortly after the announcement, the Washington Post revealed that its reporters had been sniffing around these allegations for the past week. The Post identified two of the officers named in the Sept. 11 complaint as Iman Samaraay and Abdul Dieng.

Contee, who was flanked by Executive Asst. Chief Ashan Benedict and Asst. Chief Andre Wright, said the extent of the alleged misconduct uncovered so far was contained in the Seventh District. Wright, the former 7D commander, now oversees patrol in the First, Sixth, and Seventh districts. He has been accused in the past of inappropriate relationships with subordinates and drinking on duty.

Contee acknowledged that the officers’ alleged misconduct is a bit puzzling. He said the firearms that officers seized were properly logged into the property book, but “the mystery is why were the people not arrested? That is the issue.”

Chairman of the D.C. Police Union Gregg Pemberton told the Post that officers were simply following Contee’s previous orders to seize guns as evidence even when it’s unclear who specifically possessed the weapon.

“That’s not the way that we train,” Contee said, adding that officers also failed to seek arrest warrants after the initial encounters. “It’s not the way I’ve been trained, and it’s not what we expect of our officers.”

—Mitch Ryals (tips? mryals@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• To see today’s COVID-19 data, visit our coronavirus tracker.
• DC Health is partnering with Children’s National Hospital to offer free childhood vaccinations at clinics across the city. The clinics will offer immunizations for DTap, polio, Varicella, and MMR. Middle school students and older will also have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Roughly 25 percent of DCPS students are not fully vaccinated, making them noncompliant with D.C.’s school health policies and unable to return to school. [DCist, DC Health]
• The CDC published the District’s COVID wastewater data on Friday. The results suggest an incoming uptick in cases for the fall. Boosters, anyone? [Axios, DC.gov] 
• Citing unstable soil conditions and a failure for contractors to meet delivery schedules, Metro has pushed the reopening of the six stations south of National Airport to Nov. 5, three weeks past the original date. [WTOP, WMATA]

By City Paper staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)