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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Congressman, I am sorry that I failed to make clear what I was attempting to say, that I am not familiar with the specific statute about camping on

Mr. WHITENER. How can you discuss with the Chief of Police or the Commissioner or anybody else what you are going to do about a situation tactically if you do not know what legal rights you have.

Mr. MURPHY. Well, we have reviewed many, many laws, Mr. Congressman. I think I have a relatively clear understanding of our power. The specific provision about camping on the Mall or whatever

Mr. WHITENER. Well, surely you have read Chapter 22 of the District of Columbia Code since you took over as head of the police department, have you not, to find out what the criminal laws are?

Mr. MURPHY. I have reviewed it, Mr. Congressman. I do not claim to be expert in all provisions of it, however.

Mr. WHITENER. It does not require expertise in all the provisions to find and read a statute to determine what you can do. I am not talking about just this incident but anything that you have warning is coming up which might be troublesome. It would seem to me that the first thing you would do would be to look at the statute, and if you did not have a statute-if you are going to be the policy maker and you do not have adequate law to cover a situation that you have six weeks notice of or three months notice of, you ought to come up here and ask Congress to give you a statute.

Mr. MURPHY. Well, Congressman, I would like to make it clear that we have had many discussions internally with the police department and that very question has been addressed.

Mr. WHITENER. What about the legal department. Have you discussed it with them? You have a legal staff down there.

Mr. MURPHY. We have had meetings with the legal staff.

Mr. WHITENER. What do they think? Do they say that there is no statute or that there is one?

Mr. MURPHY. Well, I have not asked that specific question, Congressman.

Mr. WHITENER. I believe that ought to be the number one question. I am not trying to fix policy for you, but I do not know how you are going to enforce some laws or devise means to do it if you do not know what the laws are.

Mr. ADAMS. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to inquire, have weI think we have a Committee

Mr. WHITENER. Excuse me just a minute. Mr. Adams has now spoken. He asked you if you had not been in police work since 1945 and if you did not start out as a private and go on up. I want to ask you how long has Chief Layton been in police work.

Mr. MURPHY. I believe Chief Layton has been in police work for about 31 years or 32 years, Congressman.

Mr. WHITENER. And he started out as a private and he has held all these offices, so if that makes an expert, Chief Layton has some qualifications, too, does he not?

Mr. MURPHY. Chief Layton has more police experience than I have in this city.

Mr. WHITENER. Yes. All right. That was my understanding.

Mr. ADAMS. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to inquire, I think we have a Committee going to work on the D.C. Code provisions to try to attack the very problem that Mr. Whitener refers to.

Mr. WHITENER. And I might say my subcommittee has worked on it and brought out pretty good crime laws which some of my friends did not support.

Mr. ADAMS. I might reply, Mr. Chairman, that you will find that we did.

The CHAIRMAN. On behalf of the Committee, I want to thank you, Mr. Murphy, for coming down here and making yourself accessible to all these questions. I want you to know that we want to cooperate with you, if possible, but we just want to know where you are going. I think you have given us a pretty good explanation this morning of your position in connection with Chief Layton. I think that was the main problem, as to how your position fits in with the Chief of Police. We appreciate your taking time to come down and answer all the questions that have been asked this morning. I know some had more questions that they wanted to ask, but we only had a certain length of time in which to do it.

I, for one, wanted you to know that we will cooperate with you and Chief Layton in every way to make this a safe city.

Mr. MURPHY. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. Some pertinent newspaper comments and letter from the policemen's association will be included in the record at this point.

(The matters referred to follow :)

[The Evening Star, Feb. 7, 1968]

MURPHY CURBS POWERS OF LAYTON, NAMES AIDE

(By John Fialka, Star Staff Writer)

District Safety Director Patrick V. Murphy announced yesterday he will be making most of the policy decisions in the Metropolitan Police Department, bypassing Chief John B. Layton in that capacity.

Murphy also named Deputy Chief Jerry V. Wilson to head the Field Operations Bureau, which handles the largest segment of day-to-day police business. Wilson will become an assistant chief, replacing Assistant Chief Howard V. Covell.

Covell, who is scheduled to retire in September, will remain with the department in his other role, as executive officer.

MEETS WITH OFFICIALS

After a closed meeting with most of the department's high officials yesterday. Murphy said he will be spending most of his time actively managing police matters in his office at headquarters.

"Obviously, I will be making many of the decisions that previously were made at Chief Layton's level," Murphy said.

"Sometimes I will act through Chief Layton and sometimes I will go directly to Wilson," he added. “It will be flexible. I am a real liberal when it comes to organization charts."

Layton, who was appointed chief in December 1964, said Murphy's new role would cause him "no problems."

He praised Murphy's select of Wilson to head field operations, and said he had "high regard" for Wilson's abilities as a planner and an organizer.

Today, Murphy issued a statement about Layton's position which he said he hoped would clarify "erroneous impressions" that may have been created yesterday.

"I met with Chief Layton after the meeting last night, and we agreed that some mistakes had been made and also agreed that we want to work together. I am happy to have him as chief and he said he wants to work with me. He is the operating head of the police department."

"True," Murphy added, "I will be making most of the policy decisions. His role didn't change as a result of anything that happened yesterday. it changed when the director of public safety was appointed."

MORALE CITED

Murphy said he has heard complaints about morale problems on the force since taking over his job but said he didn't think the Wilson appointment would make the problem more serious.

Murphy said Wilson's appointment was the first of a series he will make in coming weeks to build in the department "a team of top-level officials" to carry out reorganization plans.

The safety director said he will name an assistant chief in charge of the Administrative Services Bureau, a deputy chief to head the Special Operations Division and about five inspectors.

He said it is possible civilians might be named to one or more of the positions. During the 20-minute closed meeting with Layton, Wilson and other high officers of the department, Murphy said he wanted it fully understood that from now on he would be running the department.

"I want your support, I know you can make or break me," Murphy said, according to sources at the meeting.

They said that the news of Wilson's appointment had come as a surprise to Layton, who sat stone-faced throughout Murphy's talk. He had heard of the move only shortly before the meeting.

Murphy reportedly said he would begin a general shift of personnel in an attempt to move "hot heads" out of ghetto area precincts. He also promised a shakeup in the Community Relations division, sources said.

Referring to Friday's incident involving four off-duty officers in a shooting spree, Murphy told the officers he resented not being notified immediately. "Those things that I should know I want to be called on," Murphy reportedly said.

Afterwards, he told a reporter, "This is something I have had in mind for a long time." He said his new role in running the department was not related to the shooting incident.

Wilson, an 18-year veteran of the department, will take command of units comprising most of its forces, including the following divisions: Patrol, Criminal investigation, Traffic, Youth and Special Operations. Field operations includes 2,854 of the assigned 3,384 positions in the department.

Murphy said he made the appointment of Wilson yesterday to begin phasing Covell out of his dual role before his retirement.

APPOINTED BY LAYTON

Wilson has been director of the Planning and Development Division. Appointed by Layton, he has done much of the groundwork for the reorganization of the department as recommended by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He was born in Virginia and raised in Belmont, N.C. A specialist in statistics and budgeting matters, Wilson speaks with a soft, Southern accent. He joined the force in 1949 after serving in the Marine Corps.

He was transferred from the 7th Precinct to police headquarters in 1951 and served in a variety of clerical and staff functions. He was appointed a lieutenant in 1960, a captain in 1961, an inspector in 1964 and a deputy chief on December 18, 1966.

Murphy said he expected Wilson to concentrate on three areas: implementing recommendations of the D.C. Crime Commission, intensifying police-community relations efforts and instilling a feeling in subordinates that they will have strong backing from the new District government when they perform their work "professionally."

ON FORCE 36 YEARS

Covell, 63, is a 36-year veteran of the force. He was born and reared in Baltimore. He came to Washington in 1929 to become a machinist at the Naval Gun Factory.

In 1931, he started his career as a patrolman in the 5th Precinct. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1945 and captain in 1948.

As commanding officer of the 1st Precinct, Covell cracked down on gambling and liquor clubs and gained his reputation as a tough, "gentleman cop."

He was named an inspector in August 1951 and four months later was promoted to deputy chief and named executive officer of the department, next in command under the chief.

The position, which he still holds, will be abolished when he retires, as part of the recommendations of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Yesterday, Murphy received a telegram from the predominantly white D.C. Police Wives Association, complaining of "his newspaper tirades" over the

Friday shooting incident and calling for "more specific guidelines" on his area of authority.

CRITICIZED BY BROYHILL

Rep. Joel T. Broyhill, R-Va., today criticized the "Murphyizing" of the police partment and said Murphy should remember that the major enemy here is crime, not the Metropolitan Police Department.

Broyhill said Congress should look into Murphy's work and the qualifications br has developed while "city hopping from police department to police depart ment for the past few years."

Broyhill said, "So far, he has managed to threaten just about everybody in the city except the criminal element. So far, all we have heard from Mr. Murphy is à continuous recitation about what a grand and glorious organization he is going to have just as soon as he has finished decimating the police organization and destroying the morale of those on the force."

SIT-IN PLANNED

Mrs. Goldie Johnson, head of the Metropolitan Police Wives Association' which is predominantly Negro, said the group was "generally dissatisfied" with Murphy and announced that it would hold a sit-in at Murphy's office in the District Building at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

"We don't care if he appoints his mother, he still isn't satisfying us," complained Mrs. Johnson. She said Stokely Carmichael backed the wives' association and and would also be at the sit-in.

Mrs. Johnson said the group was angry about the Friday shooting incident and wanted the four officers involved suspended. She said she has been unable meet with Murphy.

[Editorial from the Evening Star, Thursday, Feb. 8, 1968]

POLICE TROUBLE AHEAD?

In the whole strange sequence of events of the past few days in respect to the District police department, our main concern is with the problem of department

morale.

The appointment of Deputy Chief Jerry V. Wilson to head field operations, with direct supervision over most of the city's uniformed police and detectives, appears to have been a good move. This job, which is second in importance below the Chief of Police, involves major responsibilities, requiring the abilities of an aggressive, intelligent, vigorous, young man. From all we can learn, Wilson fills ths bill.

Chief Layton's status, however, especially in relation to Patrick V. Murphy, the new director of public safety, is by no means as clear, and it needs clarification. Murphy, in a statement which he said was intended to clear up possible "erreous impressions," asserts that neither Wilson's appointment nor Murphy's arounced intention to play a much more active role in police operations conStutes any sudden change in Layton's role. The expansion of his own authority, Murphy said, was fully implied when he assumed his top-level post in December. He and the police chief, Murphy added, are in agreement on their respective roles. Today's Murphy-Layton "harmony" statement tends to confirm this last comment by Murphy. We hope experience will show this to be the case, and will also give meaning to other comments in the joint statement which obviously are designed to shore up morale and reassure both policemen and the general Public.

Our impression from earlier developments of the last few days was that Layton's roe had changed drastically. It looked to us--if words and if the demeanor of the principals at Murphy's conferences on Tuesday meant anything at all—as if Layton was being shunted aside. This would have been regrettable, and we welcome the assurance that it isn't so.

Which returns us to the question of morale.

There are two ways of doing things. Desirable changes can be made in a manner which need not be harmful to morale, or in a way that can disastrously impair it. And the wires of protest Murphy has received from the two police wives' associaons ought to alert him that morale problems already have been worsened.

This is a delicate area, but Director Murphy had better be acutely aware of it before he speaks. The lot of the policeman in Washington is hard enough under

the best of conditions. If morale should be permitted to suffer unnecessarily, especially in the face of the police manpower shortages which already exist, this city could find itself in real trouble.

STATEMENT OF MAYOR WALTER E. WashinGTON, FEBRUARY 8, 1968

I highly approve of the accompanying joint statement by Public Safety Director Patrick V. Murphy and Chief of Police John B. Layton.

I am delighted they have pledged a team effort to serve the city and fight the menace of crime in our community.

Unity is all important in the Police Department's job of combatting the District's appalling crime rate.

The citizens can be reassured that the job of protecting the community is in the hands of a strengthened police department, which now has the combined experience of Public Safety Director Murphy, Chief Layton and Assistant Chief Jerry V. Wilson, in his new role as head of Field Operations.

Our top law enforcement officials are together in their resolve to fight the common enemy-crime in our city.

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA NEWS RELEASE, FEBRUARY 8, 1968

The following statement was released jointly today, by Director of Public Safety, Patrick V. Murphy, and Chief of Police John B. Layton.

The assignment of Jerry V. Wilson as Assistant Chief for Field Operations in no manner diminishes the authority and functions of the Chief of Police, John B. Layton. Chief Layton continues as the operating head of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Assistant Chief of Police Howard V. Covell continues in the number two position in the Department, Executive Officer.

Assistant Chief Wilson has filled one of the four Assistant Chief positions and will be responsible for one of the four major functions of the Department.

The Director of Public Safety, Patrick V. Murphy, is responsible for policy formulation and program development in the Police Department, as well as in the Fire Department and Office of Civil Defense, the three agencies which come under his control. The creation of the position of Director of Public Safety has strengthened and facilitated police operations by placing a representative of the Department in the Mayor's Office to speak for it on important policy questions, such as budget requests, manpower and equipment needs, salary and working conditions and other matters.

Director Murphy stated: "I repeat what I have said publicly many times since my appointment. I would not have accepted this position if I did not consider Chief Layton an able, experienced and dedicated police chief. He has been of great assistance in familiarizing me with the operations of the Police Department. We have worked closely and harmoniously in planning the efforts of the Department for the future. I look forward to a continuing fruitful working relationship, and appreciate Chief Layton's pledge of loyal support in our attempt to make this fine police department ever better.”

Chief Layton stated: "I have long had great pride in the Metropolitan Police Department and the accomplishments of its members over the years. I am proud to be its Chief.

"In these times of great change I have looked forward with confidence to what I think can be greater accomplishments for our city under Mayor Washington and Deputy Mayor Fletcher as they move to reorganize and revitalize our City Government.

"In this connection, my role as operating head of the Department was made clear by Mayor Washington on the appointment of Mr. Murphy as Public Safety Director and has been reaffirmed by both Mr. Murphy and the Mayor's Office. "I pledge to the Mayor, his Deputy, Director of Public Safety and the citizens of this community my best efforts to make this excellent Department an even better one."

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