Mayor Bowser Picks MPD Veteran Robert J. Contee To Be D.C.'s Next Police Chief
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Contee (left) swearing in 13 new police officers in August 2017. As D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham departs to a new job in Prince William County, Mayor Muriel Bowser has picked a department veteran to replace him. Courtesy of/MPD Facebook page hide caption
Mayor Muriel Bowser will nominate longtime police official Robert J. Contee III to lead the Metropolitan Police Department in the wake of Chief Peter Newsham's planned departure for the Prince William County Police Department.
Contee, who joined MPD in 1989, is currently the department's Assistant Chief of the Investigative Services Bureau. According to his official biography on the department's website, Contee, who was born and raised in D.C., served as a patrol officer and led three of the city's seven police districts during his 31-year time on the force.
The news of Contee's nomination, which is set to be announced on Tuesday, was first reported by the Washington Post and independently confirmed by DCist. He starts Jan. 2.
In picking Contee, Bowser opted for staying within the department, just as she did when she picked Newsham in 2017 and when former mayor Adrian Fenty selected Cathy Lanier in 2007. Contee will also be the city's first Black police chief since Charles Ramsey in the early 2000s. He will have to be confirmed by the D.C. Council.
"There is no one more apt to fill the position," tweeted the D.C. Police Union, which represents rank-and-file officers, on Tuesday morning.
But with the relatively rapid selection, Bowser also largely spurned calls from activists and advocates who said Newsham's departure amidst a time of national reckoning over police brutality and racial justice presented an important opportunity to rethink policing in the nation's capital.
Earlier this month, the D.C. Police Reform Commission, which was created by the D.C. Council over the summer to recommend changes to how MPD operates, called on Bowser to "implement a robust plan for community engagement" to select a new chief, and asked that a selection panel "take special consideration of the communities who have the most contact with [police]," namely those east of the Anacostia River.
The ACLU of D.C. similarly asked Bowser to consider candidates who would reconsider how MPD engages with residents and communities.
"Our next chief must understand that decentering police — removing the law enforcement response to behaviors that are better addressed by a public health or community intervention — is critical to making our communities safer and stronger," said Monica Hopkins, the group's director, in a letter. "D.C's next police chief must tackle the District's most urgent problems with an approach unhindered by MPD's failed practices and culture."
Contee will have to face a nomination hearing and vote in a council that has become more assertive on policing matters since George Floyd's killing earlier this summer. While Newsham faced little opposition when he was confirmed — only one councilmember voted against him — Contee is expected to face tougher questions from lawmakers on the police department's budget, tactics and relations with the communities it serves.
Outgoing At-Large Councilmember David Grosso, who voted against Newsham's confirmation, said some of the council's questioning of Contee — and his support in the city's communities — could be fueled by the way he was selected.
"Conducting a public search process that sought meaningful community engagement on a nominee would have gone a long way to build critical trust in D.C.'s next police chief. The mayor's decision to ignore calls for such a process will only make the next chief's job more difficult," said Grosso in a tweet.
While some policing experts say that MPD has reformed and improved significantly over the last three decades — officers all use body-worn cameras now, and have undergone specialized training in conjunction with the National Museum of African American History and Culture — a new generation of racial justice activists say that traditional policing strategies are failing to prevent violent crime and homicides, which are currently at a 15-year high in D.C. There has been a push to expand two violence interruption initiatives and redirect police funding to other services.