Big breaking news right now at 5:00.
O'clock a major shake up in DC.
Thank you for joining us.
I'm Leslie Foster.
And I'm Lorenzo Hall, W USA9.
Learning in the last 15 minutes or so,
the DC police chief, Robert Conte,
will leave the department
this week. You will make
that announcement this week?
Yeah. We've talked
to at least two sources in the
department about this to get
some additional information.
Delia Gonsal joins us in the studio.
We've all been talking to sources
this afternoon, and it all
generally sounds about the same.
Yeah. What are you hearing right,
folks? And it's.
Exactly a shake up for a lot of
folks it was unexpected news.
He's well liked.
He is a DC native and rose up through
the ranks joining as a cadet in 1989.
So this is a man who loved the
city and and folks generally were
were pleased with his performance.
But what we are hearing is that around
4:30 folks in the administration
were told of the news that nearly
two years after Chief Conte.
Started taking control or actually
heading the Police Department here in
DC after two years after becoming chief
that he is leaving the department.
This is a sudden news that
folks were not anticipating.
I'm told right about now around 5:00 o'clock,
there is a meeting inside
the Wilson Building.
We're not certain of the
folks who are in that meeting,
but we can imagine that the chief.
As well as the mayor will be in that
meeting and I'm assuming some other
top brass and top leaders here in DC
including council members will be
there as well to find out exactly what
happens now and how do we move forward.
You know,
the chief
took over just days before
the January 6th attack.
So he has been here both as
hometown Washington and official
Washington have been dealing with,
you know, in number of issues.
We had an opportunity to sit down with
the chief recently as well to talk a
bit about his thoughts for this city,
his love for this city.
We did not certainly know at
that time that this was coming,
but you know,
there've been obviously a lot
of questions about crime in the
city and how the city is going
to get their arms around this.
And you know,
this is a police chief who says.
It's a really tough thing to have to,
to stand over someone's child,
regardless of how old they are
and tell somebody what happened.
And we've heard that he has.
He's been so passionate at
each and every crime scene.
He takes this personally.
His police officers,
his top brass take this job and their
service to this community very seriously.
And so it is a surprise that
someone who was so passionate about
giving back to his community and.
So much of his career and life
to the DC Police Department,
that's right, is moving on.
And initially, you know,
my question was well,
did he resign in any way or or or
was there pressure that the mayor was
feeling in regards to the crime rate?
Because certainly we know that Congress
has really zeroed in on the crime
rate here in DC and it's a concern,
a top concern not only for
the Police Department but the
for the folks like you and.
Me and and so many other folks who are
raising families here and who live here,
But the chief had full confidence
of everyone in the administration,
so we are understanding he
is leaving the department.
This is not a resignation by any means.
Yeah, it's been a big issue in the city.
And I have to say the department
seems to be almost exasperated at
this point in terms of coming up
with ideas and trying to figure out.
How to combat this big issue?
Because you do have people complaining,
saying when are we going to get control
of this And you know the mayor,
the police chief often punt to the
the courts and say you know we
need them to do more, we need more
of our stakeholders to take part.
Help bring this issue under control.
But at this point,
it seems like we're at sort of a standstill,
if you will,
when it comes to getting violent crime
down in the city and homicides especially.
Yeah, that's a really tough thing.
And we hear people talking about
their concerns about their safety,
as you mentioned.
So this is something we'll be
talking about for some time,
but we certainly did not see this
coming on this Wednesday afternoon.
Again, the news that Chief Robert Conte,
Chief of the DC Police,
will be moving on and we expect
to hear more about where he's
going and we expect to hear.
Possibly from the mayor, even
tomorrow. As early as tomorrow.
That's right. I should add that
tomorrow she was scheduled to
have a news conference on public
safety initiatives and certainly
the focus of that discussion will
change in light of this news. A
lot more questions to ask.
Again, we're just learning about
this in the last 1516 minutes or so,
so we know you'll be on top of it. D.