Mr. CABELL. Are there any further statements that any of your associates might make?

Chief WILSON. Thank you Mr. Chairman, I don't have a prepared

statement.

I would reiterate what the Deputy Mayor has said, that it is unfortunate that our negotiation became entangled in the problems of the inflationary actions last fall, which did delay the enactment of the Bill which would have given pay retroactive to January 1, which would have been more commensurate the increases that had been given with other Federal employees, other departments in the area.

I think it is, as indicated by the statement, important that there be fairly early action on the Bill. We are the lowest paid police agents here in this area, one of the lower paid in America; so I think our men deserve salaries commensurate with the responsibilities they have, and with the job they are performing.

Mr. CABELL. Thank you, Chief.

CRIME DECREASE

I would at this time from the Chair like to commend you and your Department force for the very splendid record that you've made over the past several years, in going from exceptionally high crime rate and steadily reducing it in practically all categories, generally in those categories that you can see and prepare for and this in the face of an overall increase of 6% in the crime index offenses in the United States. I believe murder is one of the few categories that has not decreased. Of course, you can't run around and read the minds of people who commit crimes of violence, but I think that our Department is worthy of commendation.

Chief WILSON. Thank you very much.

DECREASES IN WASHINGTON CRIME
FBI UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS (1970-71)

Source: Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1971 preliminary annual release, March 30, 1972.

POLICE RECRUITMENT AND RESIGNATIONS

Mr. CABELL. One question I would like to raise that is over that rather alarming resignation rate, particularly in the first year. (See p. 105.)

Could you give any explanation for that?

Chief WILSON. Well, Mr. Chairman two things occur. One if of course that to start in police work, resignations first come in the first year of service for a variety of reasons. Men come into the job, find that it's not the romantic job they thought; just as a matter of consequence, they tend to resign in the first year or two of service.

Given the fact that in the year 1970, late 1969 through 1970, we appointed a thousand and a half men, some 1,500 men; the following year it's not unreasonable to expect that we will have a high rate of resignation.

Of course, the second thing is that our salaries have fallen consistently behind, as indicated in Deputy Mayor Watt's statement. Our salary is now three increases behind Federal employees, and is quite low in comparison to other departments in this area.

Young men in the bottom salary levels leave our department because they simply have to go other places where they can get enough money to make a living.

Mr. CABELL. Could it be that a great many of those who signed up, that you're recruiting, have just been taking that as a stop-gap without really having the intention of making that a career?

How do your drop-outs-if that's the word-compare with other forces?

Chief WILSON. We have a high number, but I think our rate is about the same: a high drop-out rate during the first years-it's fairly typical of police service, as a matter of fact, because the young men come into police service thinking that it's a different type job than it is.

Mr. Weinberg has data here for a turnover in the Federal government, which I believe is higher than police work. I'm not certain that it's directly comparable, because police work is considered more career than some other Federal employees.

(The turnover of police is set forth in the following exhibit :) GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

EXECUTIVE OFFICE,

Washington, D.C., March 17, 1972.

JAMES CLARK,

Clerk, Committee on the District of Columbia,
House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. CLARK: The following information is submitted per your request of March 16, 1972 for comparative information on filled and authorized uniformed positions in the Metropolitan Police Department and D.C. Fire Department for the years 1969, 1970 and 1971.

Mr. CABELL. Do you feel that you have as efficient as possible a Personnel Department that screens these applicants as thoroughly as they might be?

Chief WILSON. I'm convinced that our screening is adequate, Mr. Chairman.

It's not practical under the rules of Civil Service and Civil Service hiring processes to screen out individuals who may come and stay a while and leave. There's no way for us to read the man's mind, for one thing, and even if we did read his intent that he may leave in a year or two, we still cannot reject him under Civil Service on that basis.

I don't say that is a problem; I think the problem is, essentially, one which it's always been, high periods of recruitment resulting in following high periods of turnover.

POLICE QUALIFICATIONS

Mr. CABELL. Do you feel that lowering your entrance standard has had an influence on this high drop-out rate?

Chief WILSON. Mr. Chairman, we haven't changed our standards substantially in the 23 years I've been here.

The admission examination is the same as the one that was established in 1947, except for the eyesight requirements which no longer require 20-20 vision-that was done some 10 years ago. We've actually raised it simply because we now require high school education.

Mr. CABELL. Has your passing grade been lowered?

Chief WILSON. No, sir. The passing on the examination, the 1947 examination, there's a series of six or eight exams, it's a 1947 series, it consists of 80 questions. 40 is passing, has been for 23 years.

Mr. WEINBERG. Mr. Chairman, just to reinforce what the Chief said, during the period of May 1970, through November of 1971, there were actually interviews given to 400 boys leaving the force. It's interesting that 100 of these left to go into other law enforcement agencies, 75 left to further their education; 25% going to some other place, whether it be Pennsylvania State Police or local jurisdictions would indicate that part of the problem would be we don't have the necessary salaries in the beginning to keep them.

Mr. CABELL. Is it true then that those who leave to go with some other department go into a smaller jurisdiction? They're just sitting back waiting for you to get them trained?

Chief WILSON. That's possibly so; of course there aren't that many jurisdictions that are larger than the District of Columbia, so there's not a high rate of going into larger jurisdictions; most of them do tend to go into smaller departments.

As a matter of fact, the State Police agencies, for those starting out, pay substantially higher salaries than we do.

Mr. CABELL. I would be very surprised if the training here is any different than it is other places I've seen and been connected with. That is, the large force, the large jurisdiction which has a training program like yours, are fair game for the smaller jurisdictions in the general

area.

Chief WILSON. That's partly true.

Mr. CABELL. For that reason, they'll always overpay you a little bit; they don't have to train you, get the training experience, cost.

Chief WILSON. Luckily. Mr. Chairman, it's only been recently that jurisdictions around in Washington have overpaid us, Mr. Chairman. We have a much harder job in many respects than the local jurisdictions.

It's only been in the last couple of years that the surrounding jurisdictions have paid higher salaries than we do.

Mr. CABELL. How are you, with reference to your authorized strength right now?

Chief WILSON. I believe we have 60 vacancies at this point; we are substantially at full strength. We actually will not get much closer than that because of the budget absorption which is required in the next fiscal year, the fact that we will have to carry vacancies.

We're substantially at full strength at this point, through our heavy recruiting efforts; also through hiring of police women.

POLICE OVERTIME COMPENSATION

Mr. CABELL. Do you feel that there is any possibility now that you are closer to your authorized strength, assuming that you can maintain that position-do you see the possibility of reducing overtime? That has been a pretty costly factor.

Mr. WILSON. We at this time Mr. Chairman, are not paying overtime on a regular basis.