Cathy Lynn Lanier (born July 22, 1967) is a former chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC). Lanier was appointed by Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty in January 2007, replacing outgoing police chief Charles H. Ramsey. She is the first woman to hold the position. In May 2012, Mayor Vincent C. Gray agreed to retain Lanier as police chief under a new five-year contract.[1] Lanier accepted a third appointment from Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2016, making her the first chief of police in MPD history to serve three mayors. Violent crime dropped 23 percent over the years Lanier was chief, and homicides plunged to a half-century low in 2012.[2] On August 16, 2016, it was announced that Lanier had accepted a position as the senior vice president of security with the National Football League.[3] Her last day as police chief was September 15, 2016, when she was succeeded by her deputy, Peter Newsham.[4] Lanier was the longest serving Chief of Police in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
Lanier dropped out of high school after the ninth grade, and became a mother at the age of 15.[5] Lanier rose from a challenging childhood. She later earned a GED and Associate’s degree at the University of the District of Columbia.
Lanier had joined the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia in 1990 as a foot patrolman. In 1994, she was promoted to Sergeant and, two years later, a Lieutenant, before becoming a patrol supervisor. In 1999, she became a Captain and, later that year, was promoted to Inspector and placed in charge of the Department's Major Narcotics Branch/Gang Crime Unit. In August 2000, she was promoted to Commander-in-Charge of the Fourth District of the city. In April 2006, she became the Commander at the Office of Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism, Office of the Chief of Police in MPDC, overseeing, among other things, the bomb squad and the emergency response team.[7]
Lanier was criticized in July 2009 after claiming that motorists who used GPS navigation and smartphones to avoid traffic cameras were employing a "cowardly tactic".[8]
Lanier has defended the practice of arresting individuals reselling tickets to sporting events, even if the tickets were sold at face value.[9] The tactic has led to the arrest of out of town visitors who had extra tickets to see the Washington Nationals.[10]
She retired from the Metropolitan Police Department in September 2016 to become the head of security of the National Football League.[11]
