Washington DC Rescue Police Department

Cathy L. Lanier
Chief of Police

The cornerstone of Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Cathy L. Lanier’s leadership lies in her commitment to reducing violent crimes through the strong relationships she has fostered with partners in community as well as those within the criminal justice system. A key to this success was convincing all partners that we could prevent the next homicide through immediate and coordinated action. Strengthened police-community ties have opened avenues of communications, giving victims and witnesses the courage to share valuable information that helps the MPD capture criminals.

Various modes of communication have also expanded under Lanier’s direction. The Metropolitan Police Department has expanded its social media to include tools like Facebook and Twitter. The Department also accepts anonymous text tips to help solve crimes. Between 2008 and 2011, the number of tips received through the text tip line increased by 319%. Through the MPD’s reward program, concerned community members have been recognized for the contributions they made in reducing violent crimes in the District of Columbia.  Between 2007-2011, the MPD gave over $1 million in rewards for information that led to the arrest and conviction of violent criminals.

These valuable partnerships have played a key role in the significant decrease in the number of homicides in District of Columbia as well as the outstanding homicide closure rate during Lanier’s tenure as Chief of Police. At the close of 2011, there was an 18 percent decrease in the number of homicides from the previous year. MPD’s homicide case closure rate for 2011 was 95%, compared to a 57% national average.

Lanier has spent her entire law enforcement career with the Metropolitan Police Department, beginning in 1990. Much of her career has been in uniformed patrol, where she served as Commander of the Fourth District, one of the largest and most diverse residential patrol districts in the city. She also served as the Commanding Officer of the Department’s Major Narcotics Branch and Vehicular Homicide Units.

Chief Lanier was named Commander of the Special Operations Division (SOD), where, for four years, she managed the Emergency Response Team, Aviation and Harbor Units, Horse Mounted and Canine Units, Special Events/Dignitary Protection Branch, and Civil Disturbance Units. During her tenure as SOD Commander, she established the agency’s first Homeland Security/Counter-Terrorism Branch and created an agency-wide chemical, biological, radiological response unit known as the Special Threat Action Team.

In 2006, the MPD’s Office of Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism (OHSCT) was created, and Chief Lanier was tapped to be its first Commanding Officer. A highly respected professional in the areas of homeland security and community policing, she took the lead role in developing and implementing coordinated counter-terrorism strategies for all units within the MPD and launched Operation TIPP (Terrorist Incident Prevention Program).

After assuming leadership of the Metropolitan Police Department on January 2, 2007, Cathy L. Lanier was unanimously confirmed as the Chief of Police by the Council of the District of Columbia on April 3, 2007.

Chief Lanier is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Unit Commanders Academy. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. She is certified at the technician level in Hazardous Materials Operations.

Source: http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/cwp/view,a,1230,Q,561417,mpdcNav,%7C,.asp

Jurisdictions History and Background:

Beautiful, century-old buildings stand as testament to the rich history that makes up one of America’s oldest veterans’ retirement homes. The Soldiers’ Home was established in 1851 as an “asylum for old and disabled veterans.” Four of the original buildings still stand and are listed as national historic landmarks. Two of the buildings, Quarters 1 and the Lincoln Retreat, served as the summer White House for U.S. Presidents — Chester Arthur, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Buchanan, and most notably, Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln lived at the Soldiers’ Home, in what is now called Lincoln Cottage, during our nation’s most turbulent history, the Civil War. Not only was it a break from the hot, humid city, but also from the intense political pressures of being president. In fact, Lincoln spent one-fourth of his presidency at Soldiers’ Home, and it is believed that Lincoln wrote the last draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1865, Lincoln’s wife, Mary, wrote to her friend Elizabeth Blair Lee, “How dearly I loved the Soldiers’ Home.” The historic Lincoln Cottage was constructed in 1842-43 as the home of George W. Riggs, who went on to establish the famous Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C. In 1851, the Riggs home and farm land surrounding it was purchased by the government to form the core of what is today the AFRH-Washington.

Since the Home’s beginning, operational funding came from the soldiers (and later, airmen) themselves. A permanent trust fund was established nearly 150 years ago, and was fed by monthly, active duty payroll deductions of 25 cents, when the average pay of a soldier was $7 a month. Fines and forfeitures from the armed forces and the monthly withholding have provided the principal support for the Home throughout its history.

In 2001, Congress renamed the U.S. Naval Home and the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home the Armed Forces Retirement Home – Gulfport and the Armed Forces Retirement Home – Washington, respectively.

 Citywide Crime Statistics
Annual Totals, 1993-2011