A neighborhood advisory commissioner is accusing D.C. police of not following through with crime solver rewards that were promised for evidence that helped put two men in prison聽
Fairlawn neighborhood Commissioner Tom Donohue filed a lawsuit Tuesday, hoping to recover the promised money as well as bring transparency to the reward process.
Donohue turned over video evidence from his home security cameras of two serious crimes. First, evidence used to convict a man of serial armed robberies, as well as video of a deadly hit-and-run on his street.
鈥淏ehind closed doors, MPD reward program operates with a complete absence of policy, zero written evaluation rubrics, no standard operating procedures, and no formal oversight,鈥� claimed Donohue.
鈥淧ayout decisions are made arbitrarily behind closed doors, without transparency or accountability.鈥�
D.C. police offers a range of rewards for information that leads to a conviction, including $25,000 for information on a homicide and $10,000 for information leading to a robbery conviction.
According to the Crime Solvers website, a committee determines how reward money is spent. It does not detail how they determine the award.
Donohue provided high-definition video in the 2020 killing of David Farewell, who died in a hit-and-run. Donohue claimed in the filed suit that he was verbally assured that he qualified for the full $25,000 reward through the Crime Stoppers program.
鈥淢y reward was arbitrarily slashed to $5,000. High-ranking officials later offered unwritten, invented excuses, claiming on the record, on record lines that video footage of a murder is worth less than witness testimony,鈥� he said during a news conference held in front of D.C. Superior Court.
He also shared video evidence with police that led to the conviction of David Crocker, for two counts of armed robbery. A detective on the case notified Donohue that he had completed the reward paperwork for the $10,000 payout.
Despite approval from higher ups, D.C. police failed to disburse the money. And was told the payout would not happen after corrections.
鈥淢embers risk their lives to bring evidence to police. They deserve honesty, clear rules and fair treatment,鈥� Donohue said, adding that he received threats on his own life after handing over evidence in the hit-and-run case.
鈥淲hen people trust this program and learn that the program isn’t standing up to what it’s supposed to, we lose trust in it. So, it’s my goal to work closely with MPD to bring it to where it needs to be, to bring transparency forward.鈥�
Donohue admitted that he would have turned over evidence without needing the full financial compensation. But when he was told he would receive the money, he told the family of the victim that he would purchase the headstone.
鈥淣obody should be laid to rest without a marker and their grave being identified. So that’s the driving part of this is that I really wanted to help the families,鈥� he said.
For the past several years, Donohue has requested internal documents from D.C. police through the Freedom of Information Act, he claims they failed to provide any meaningful documents that show the standard procedure of how rewards are valued for different evidence.
鈥淏ut the good news is, we’re going to bring it out in the full. We’re going to bring it out in the light. Hopefully, MPD will sit down with me and work something out and work together to come up with a solid program that everyone can trust,鈥� he said.
D.C. police said they could no comment on any pending litigation.
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