policemen on the force. I realize and I think that I know your position as Safety Director is a policy-making position. Mr. MURPHY. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You can take it from this point. STATEMENT OF PATRICK V. MURPHY, DIRECTOR, PUBLIC SAFETY, WASHINGTON, D.C. Mr. MURPHY. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I am grateful for your kind invitation to come and state my position, what my understanding is of my authority and responsibility. As you just described it, Mr. Chairman, I am with Commissioner Washington and working for him in carrying out his responsibility for the operation of the Police Department, Fire Department and Office of Civil Defense. I not only look forward to working closely with Chief Layton as part of the Mayor's team in fighting crime and preventing disorder in the city, but I would like to assure you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, that I thoroughly considered before accepting the appointment, my very high regard for Chief Layton, whom I have known for many years, have met him at meetings of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and during the past two years I have worked with him while I was with the Law Enforcement Assistance Branch of the Department of Justice. And it is only because I have had this very high regard for Chief Layton and have known him to be a dedicated, able, well-experienced police officer that I accepted the appointment as Director of Public Safety for the city. Now, as you describe it, Mr. Chairman, my function is basically the policy-making function. I have a very small staff, an assistant and secretarial help, and it is the wish of Commissioner Washington that a small staff be maintained in this office as part of the Office of the Commissioner of the District of Columbia. The Police Department as we know, is a very large organization of 28 or 29 hundred people, all of whom have had some experience in their positions and the command people a considerable amount of experience. Chief Layton does a splendid job in operating the Department, and I think we have a complete understanding between the two of us that he is certainly to continue as the Chief of Police and direct and control the operations of the Department every day. And my role, as I have seen it, is to bring what little contribution I can make. Of course, I do have a police background. I have had police experience in other jurisdictions. I think I may be able to make some contribution. It is a fact of life that the police system in the United States is such that unfortunately there has not been very much communication and exchange among the police departments, and so when one visits different police departments around the country, he finds many variations in policies and procedures. I would hope that one of the small contributions I can make would be to bring the benefit of my experience to bear on some of the policies and practices of the Department and review them with Chief Layton and his staff and hopefully make improvement where improvement is to be made. I would like to state, also, that I have a very high regard for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. I think it is a very honest police department. I have found the men to be extremely dedicated in visiting precincts and riding throughout the city, visiting officers on their beats and in the units, listening to the police radio. I have been tremendously impressed with the response of officers to calls, with the willingness of officers, in fact, to volunteer to come in and back up officers going in on a robbery call or some other call I where there may be violence. This, to me, is one of the most important kinds of evidence of the morale of a police organization, and I have been impressed that there is high morale in the Department, and I have great confidence that we can do much to prevent disorder of any kind and that we will be prepared to handle any minor or other disorder which may occur. I am also confident that we can do more in preventing crime and in controlling the very difficult crime problem that concerns all of us. And Chief Layton and I and other members of his staff have had several discussions about what we might do. The Department, I should state, has been doing a great deal in the past two years. Chief Layton has led a re-organization of this Department, a major re-organization, which, to my knowledge, is one of the most far-reaching re-organizations of any large city police department that has occurred in this nation in many years. And I think Chief Layton deserves much credit for that. I fear that the community perhaps does not appreciate the great significance of this re-organization, which I think has streamlined the Department, reduced the span of control of the Chief and some of his ranking officers, and the Department is going into a computerization program. The records system is being improved. And there is much more to be done in carrying out the rest of this re-organization. I am happy to have a part of that effort, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. I believe this question as to your authority came to a head about two weeks ago when four policemen, after their duty hours, began shooting out the window of their car. Mr. MURPHY. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. I think that some people were of the opinion that Mr. Layton should have handled that and it was not necessary to report that to you immediately. Now, would you discuss whether that type of— Mr. MURPHY. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I would like to discuss that. As I stated earlier, it has been my experience that policies and practices in police departments vary a great deal. I attempted to make clear when I became Director of Public Safety that I would like to be advised at any time, any hour of the day or night, about any major incident, and I was not advised about this incident. Frankly, that concerned me. I would want Chief Layton-and, as a matter of fact, Chief Layton and his staff have handled that matter completely. I was somewhat concerned that I didn't know about it soon enough. I did believe and I do believe that it is important for me to be aware of any incident which involves a disciplinary matter relating to a police officer. And I think that the Mayor, Commissioner Washington, and his assistant, Mr. Fletcher, should be made aware of such developments very promptly. For instance, this morning, Mr. Chairman, at 5:45 my phone rang about an unfortunate incident at the Russian Embassy in this city this morning. And I do want to know about those things immediately because of the implications they could have, and certainly not inject myself to the extent of excluding Chief Layton, because I have great confidence in his ability. But I would want to be aware and to respond to the scene of such an incident if I feel it appropriate. When the incident you have made reference to occurred, I was unaware of it, received an inquiry concerning it, and I mistakenly stated that such an incident could not have occurred since I was not aware of it so many hours later. When I did become aware that there had been such an incident, I responded to the precinct where the investigation was under way. And Chief Layton and I have discussed that since, and I think we have completely clarified it. And he understands now that I would like to be made aware of a major incident of that nature immediately and certainly just want to know about what it is and what is going on. And if I feel I should become involved, I would. But it is my expectation that I would be completely satisfied with the handling of these incidents by Chief Layton. The CHAIRMAN. Well, I am certain you agree that matters of this nature should be planned and you and Chief Layton should have an agreement as to who will contact who Mr. MURPHY. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN (continuing). On occasions of that type and not try to do it through the news media. Mr. MURPHY. I agree, sir. I agree, sir. Unfortunately, some things do come to the attention of the press that I cannot control and Chief Layton cannot control, and sometimes an erroneous impression occurs. But Chief Layton and I have a complete understanding about how we want to handle these matters, and certainly those things that should be handled internally will be handled internally. That is our understanding, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Well, there is no objection to the press having news and publicizing it, but I think before the press has it, you and Chief Layton should have an understanding as to what to expect of each other. Mr. MURPHY. Yes sir; I agree with that. The CHAIRMAN. And if it is not carried out, then the press should grumble a little. Mr. Nelsen. Mr. NELSEN. I have no questions. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Whitener. Mr. WHITENER. Mr. Murphy, I was somewhat interested to read in the press some time ago a statement that you allegedly made with reference to the incident which you have mentioned. I wonder if you would say that you were accurately quoted at that time. Mr. MURPHY. I am sorry, Mr. Congressman. Mr. WHITENER. You were quoted in the Washington Post on Sunday, February 4, 1968, as saying, "I am going to ask some hard questions, and I am going to expect some hard answers. If I am not satisfied with the answers, I am going to take whatever action I think is necessary." The story goes on, "Asked what this might include, he said, 'Whatever I feel is appropriate, including reassignment'. He would not elaborate. He did say, "The higher a man's rank, the greater his responsibility.'" What do you mean by "hard answers" and "hard questions"? Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Congressman, I think that is an accurate reporting of what I said. Frankly, I was gravely concerned, and continue to be gravely concerned, about reports of police officers drinking alcoholic beverages in police or on police property, and I was gravely concerned about the incident which occurred, the discharging of firearms by police officers without Mr. WHITENER. Do you find anything to indicate that Chief Layton was not equally concerned about that? Mr. MURPHY. No, sir; I did not find anything, but I was concerned, sir, about some of the actions of officials of the Department at various levels, and that would reach from Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and maybe higher. Mr. WHITENER. What you were commenting-as you were quoted in the press, you were not referring to sergeants, lieutenants, or captains, were you? Mr. MURPHY. I was referring to captains, sir, and possibly higher ranking officers. I think responsibility for discipline in a police department does rest with officers at the precinct level and higher levels. Mr. WHITENER. You said, according to this newspaper article, I quote, "This was not an example of strong discipline. It was an example of weakness some place." Have you determined where that weakness was? Mr. MURPHY. Sir, I am concerned about drinking in a police building. Mr. WHITENER. Of course, everybody should be. Mr. MURPHY. Yes. I think that is some reflection of a weakness in discipline at least at the precinct level. Mr. WHITENER. Now, Mr. Murphy, I observe here from your job description that among your many duties that are outlined in your job description (see p. 14) one of them is to "serve in a liaison capacity with the courts in the District of Columbia." What does that embrace, what type of liaison? Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Congressman, I have met with Judges from the various courts in the District where the cases of our police officers are taken for trial. Mr. WHITENER. Have you made any headway? Mr. MURPHY. Well, I think some slight headway, sir, not much. We appreciate, I think, the Judges and ourselves in the Police Department, that there are many problems because of our close working relationship, the scheduling of appearances of police officers in court, getting our officers in court on time, trying as much as we possibly can to reduce the loss of time of police officers in court which is taken from work on the streets, understanding the decisions as they come down, as new decisions come down, the necessity for training our officers. We have worked with the Prosecutor's offices as well as in trying to coordinate this entire function. Mr. WHITENER. Have you made any headway about getting a little cooperation on the part of courts toward abuse of police officers that we have had complaints about? Mr. MURPHY. No, sir; we have not pursued that particular problem. I hope to get to it, sir. Mr. WHITENER. Would that not help morale more than making statements to the press criticizing the chief of police and doing that sort of thing? 91-105-68 Mr. MURPHY. I am very concerned about police officers being shown the proper respect in court as well as on the streets and in police buildings. I think its tragic that there is the amount of disrespect for police officers that we see today. And to the extent that I can be helpful in trying to improve that respect and the fair and proper treatment of officers in court, I will attempt to do so. Mr. WHITENER. I am sure you are familiar with the study that was made by a special subcommittee of this Committee on morale and recruitment, and this is one of the key areas in which we found morale problems, that not only the courts but some of the Government officials had committed acts or done things which caused the police to feel that they were not being supported by either the courts or the public officials. Mr. MURPHY. Yes, sir. Mr. WHITENER. I was just wondering how do you go about liaison with the courts. Do you deal with the Chief Judge or do you deal with all the judges in a judicial conference, or how? Mr. MURPHY. Well, I have met with the Chief Judge of the District Court and some of the other members of that bench. I am very concerned that there seems-it seems to me there is so much misunderstanding of the function of the police officers. I think it is tragic that we find this even in some courts and in some prosecutors' offices. I would certainly urge members of the bench and prosecutors as well as other interested people to come down with us, to come right_out with us in a police car and see the difficult problems that the officer faces every day. It seems to be that the police officer is the man in the middle. In this year 1968, he is frequently misunderstood by people of good will and others. And I think there is a great need for this entire nation to develop a better understanding of the difficulty of the police officer's function in our complex and changing society today. A police officer is the man who our society sends out to deal with its most difficult problems, the problem society itself has not successfully dealt with, and we must support the police officer in a better way. We must understand him, cooperate with him and assist him, not only our citizens but people in the rest of the criminal justice branch as well. Mr. WHITENER. Mr. Murphy, on the date of February 7, 1968 in the Evening Star, you were quoted as follows: "Obviously I will be making many of the decisions that previously were made at Chief Layton's level." What did you mean to imply by that statement? Mr. MURPHY. Well, Congressman, as I have seen my position, since this position did not exist in the District Government before and because my responsibility extends only to the three agencies that come under me, the Police Department, Fire Department and Office of Civil Defense, that I would have the time to devote to these three departments that the Commissioner of the District Government responsible for the agencies in the past did not have, because he had many other responsibilities, and because I do have a police background I will be involved in the development of new policy. Of course, there is much policy in the Department in existence which Chief Layton has developed and has been developed historically in the Department, and much of that policy will remain. But in developing new policy I think I will play an active role. Mr. WHITENER. In this same story in the Evening Star you were alleged to have indicated that you might go directly to a subordinate |