DC police officers removed from crime unit for taking guns without arrests, pursuing warrants

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has removed seven officers from a specialized violent crime team after an internal investigation found that the officers were seizing guns without making arrests or pursuing warrants.

"We have a responsibility to make the community safer and that includes taking bad guys to jail," police Chief Robert J. Contee said Friday. "While we stress the importance of holding offenders accountable for their actions, we have an obligation to hold our members to a high standard in all that they do."

The officers have been moved to desk duty or placed on administrative leave. All were from the Seventh District, which covers some of D.C.'s worst areas for crime. 

Investigators reviewed three months of the officers' body camera footage and compared it to the police reports, which were inconsistent with the video.

"The suspects were allowed to go free, and they should have been placed under arrest or at the minimum an arrest warrant," Contee said.