I am pleased to be here today to make this most important announcement. People ought to be able to feel safe in their homes and cars, or walking on our streets. Because public safety has taken on such a high priority, I joined with the Financial Authority, the U.S. Attorney, the Chief of Police, the Corporation Counsel, Judge Hamilton and the Council's Judiciary Committee earlier this year to form the Memo of Understanding, which I wrote to make sure that the District does a better job in ensuring public safety. The Memorandum of Understanding was accepted and adopted by all other partners, and it ought to serve as a model for the nation's cities. The Memo of Understanding effort has worked.
Crime is down in our city.
There are more police officers on patrol on D.C. streets. I think the MOU has had a very positive effect in our city. However, some people have recently called into question the credibility and integrity of the Metropolitan Police Department. While I don't believe that there is massive or systemic corruption among the police, some people do believe this to be true. All of the MOU partners felt the need to look at this to see if there was endemic corruption, or if recent revelations about the department were isolated incidents.