Cathy L. Lanier

Cathy L. Lanier is the Chief of Police with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC). Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty appointed Lanier to replace outgoing Police Chief Charles Ramsey. Lanier is the first female MPDC chief.

Lanier, who grew up in Tuxedo, Maryland, joined the MPDC in 1990 as a foot patrolman. In 1994 she was promoted to sergeant, and two years later, a lieutenant, before becoming a patrol supervisor. Lanier led development of community policing initiatives within the department. 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. 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.

She has advanced academic degrees from the Johns Hopkins University and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, California, where she completed a Masters in Security Studies; her thesis was Preventing Terror Attacks in the Homeland: A New Mission for State and Local Police. She also attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and is a graduate of the FBI Academy and the University of the District of Columbia.