Fenty Tells Homicide Detectives: Job Well Done

The men and women who work as D.C. homicide detectives labor to solve some of the city's most disturbing crimes. Anger gone terribly wrong. Another young life cut violently short. It's important, but grim work. Nothing positive about murder.

Except perhaps when you catch who did it. D.C. detectives closed 75 percent of the homicide cases in 2008, a closure rate that is well above the rate for cities of comparable size, said department spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump. That performance caught the attention of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who yesterday evening gave D.C. homicide detectives a meritorious service award. The tradition dates back to 1929 when Congress passed a law for exceptional police and fire emergency personnel to be recognized annually by the mayor. In 1984, corrections employees were added for consideration. The police department is a four-time recipient, the last time in 2002.

Homicide detectives work quietly and inconspicuously, wearing regular clothes instead of a police uniform, slipping in and out of neighborhoods to talk to witnesses and family members in the hopes the next bit of information might be the tipping point. They came to police headquarters for a brief moment in the spotlight.