D.C. Detectives No Match for Myth in Solving Murders

WASHINGTON — In TV land, the detective knows almost no peer. In such programs as “NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order” and “Homicide,” the plainclothes cops are exemplars of law enforcement, tirelessly, even passionately, working the streets to solve the most complex of cases.

But the nation’s capital is not TV land. And of late, residents have had reason to question the competence of murder investigators--the elite of the police department’s detective corps.

Indeed, revelations about the homicide unit cast doubt on whether its officers even care about what they do.

The raw statistics were bad enough--as of early fall, the department had solved only about a third of the 230 homicides tallied at that point, only about half the national rate of 65%. (A recent Los Angeles Times study found the Los Angeles Police Department had a 54% rate of charges filed in homicide cases for 1990-94.)

*

Even worse, perhaps, were revelations of widespread flaws in the Washington department’s handling of murder investigations. A series of reports found that:

* Several detectives, while failing to attend the autopsies of murder victims, illegally earned six-figure salaries with overtime pay.

* Important case documents and evidence routinely vanished.

* Investigative procedures generally were outdated, and many detectives failed to adhere even to those techniques.

Public outrage may have peaked when it was revealed that the homicide unit had virtually ignored a huge helping hand extended by the Justice Department.

Experts from the department--called in privately almost two years ago--had identified 107 of 136 unsolved homicide cases from 1991-94 that could be swiftly closed if detectives followed up on leads and questioned suspects. As of September, when word of the federal involvement surfaced, only seven of the cases had been solved.

Police Chief Larry D. Soulsby, in his initial response to the barrage of bad news, reassigned the homicide unit’s commander, as well as 17 supervisory lieutenants and sergeants.

City officials were less than mollified by the personnel shuffling.

“Almost two-thirds of the city’s murderers are getting away, and that’s scary,” said City Councilman Harold Brazil. “Homicide is supposed to be the premier office in the police department. . . . When the police got better wages, people thought things would get better. But with this, the people will quickly lose faith and go back to the high level of anxiety and fear.”

*

As the criticism continued, Soulsby beefed up the 83-detective homicide unit by reassigning 30 other officers to it and drew upon the help of 22 agents on loan from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Improvements have resulted. Earlier this month, the department reported its clearance rate for 1997 murders had increased to 41%.

Still, that remains significantly below the national average. And the unsolved killings include a particularly coldblooded case that dominated headlines earlier this year and continues to linger in the minds of many in the affluent area where it occurred.

*

It happened on a Sunday in July, sometime after the Starbuck’s coffee shop in the trendy Georgetown neighborhood closed at 9 p.m. As that night’s cleanup crew--a 25-year-old woman and two men, ages 25 and 18--worked, at least one gunman gained entry. All told, 10 rounds were fired into the employees’ heads, killing them instantly. Their bodies were not discovered until morning.

The police seemed to make the murders a priority. But even then, the investigation suffered from the type of error that plagued less-publicized slayings: Officials have admitted that homicide detectives failed to seize a pair of white sneakers encrusted with what appeared to be blood in the home of a potential suspect questioned shortly after the murders.