NEW: D.C. Metropolitan Police Department files show that the department tried to fire 24 officers for criminal misconduct from 2009 to 2019.

In all but three of those cases, a powerful tribunal of three high-ranking officers overruled the terminations. https://t.co/V5w9PfB6KF

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

The files, obtained by Reveal and @wamu885/@DCist, provide a rare glimpse into how officers avoid accountability and remain on the force, even after internal affairs investigators have determined they committed crimes.

The records have never before been made public. pic.twitter.com/sn8Zh1RMEZ

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

In addition to blocking terminations, the records show that the Adverse Action Panel, which included the current police chief Robert J. Contee, issued much lighter punishment — an average of a 29-day suspension without pay. https://t.co/wCYkEB59mh pic.twitter.com/LKlXTbvlkk

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

These officers amassed records for domestic violence, DUIs, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, stalking and more.

In several instances, they fled the scenes of their crimes. https://t.co/V5w9PfB6KF

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

Of the 24 criminal misconduct cases, the department believed that at least seven officers had committed domestic assault.

All of them stayed on the force, six as a result of the panel's decision. https://t.co/V5w9PfB6KF

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

Personnel files show that an internal investigation concluded that Officer Steven Ferris was arrested for simple assault in 2012 after Internal Affairs reported he confessed that he punched his wife so hard that he fractured a bone around her eye socket. https://t.co/V5w9PfB6KF

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

Another officer, Jonathan Goodman, allegedly hit two women at a restaurant in 2010.

When one of them said she was calling the cops, he pulled out his badge and replied, “Bitch, I am the police,” according to the files. https://t.co/V5w9PfB6KF

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

Neither Contee, the police chief, nor the department would comment on Reveal and WAMU/DCist’s findings. We attempted to reach all of the officers named in this story for comment. Only one responded. https://t.co/wCYkEB59mh pic.twitter.com/yvGVHuNvYk

— Reveal (@reveal) December 18, 2021

A major reason why Los Angeles today is a vastly improved place over the one I grew up in during the 1980s is that the LAPD was brought to heel after the Rodney King uprising, which formed a precondition for a relative racial reconciliation in the city. https://t.co/iF62ui2Rt3

— Nils Gilman (@nils_gilman) December 24, 2021

LAPD kills a 14-year-old girl in a dressing room at Burlington Coat Factory while shooting at a suspect https://t.co/ExpbNj7XgD

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) December 24, 2021

jesus fucking christ. LAPD opened fire in a crowded store two days before christmas intending to kill someone wielding a bike lock, and they killed a random child instead.

Don't let "officer involved shooting" do the work these cops want it to do. https://t.co/Dv4fvOMfqP

— Damien P. Williams, MA, MSc, ABD, Patternist (@Wolven) December 24, 2021