WASHINGTON -
A specialized D.C. police unit that investigates officer-involved shootings is being split up.
Some members of the Force Investigation Team are being trained in new aspects of internal affairs investigations. Others are being assigned new responsibilities altogether.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says the shakeup is part of a departmental reorganization, but investigations of police-involved shootings will remain the same. Assistant Chief Michael Anzallo says the number of officer-involved shootings has dropped dramatically in the last decade, so the need for a unit focused exclusively on those investigations isn't as critical as it once was.
The team was created in 1999 under then-Chief Charles Ramsey to deal with an alarming number of officer-involved shootings. The number of shootings also prompted D.C. officials to ask the Justice Department to investigate.
