MPD  Commander Lanier Sets Goals for the First 100 Days

(Washington, DC) On November 20, 2006, Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty named Commander Cathy Lanier as the next Chief of Police for the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC. Since then, Acting Chief Cathy Lanier has been speaking with members of the community and the Department every day to identify key concerns about their neighborhoods and the agency. This ongoing dialogue is just beginning, but it has helped to inform the Chief’s key overarching goals, and some initial steps for the first 100 days. The primary goals and immediate action items that will be completed in the first 100 days are highlighted below.

In addition, this dialogue has reinforced Chief Lanier’s commitment to principles that have guided her work and relationships with the community, colleagues, and other constituencies. These principles will help to make her vision a reality: To position MPD as an agency viewed and respected locally, nationally, and internationally as a model for how it serves the community. Chief  Lanier and her team are committed to:

• Changing the culture of the MPD from reacting to crime to building and sustaining safe neighborhoods.
• Encouraging teamwork and leadership at every level of the police department and throughout the community.
• Emphasizing that every MPD employee has the power to influence positive change – and encouraging them to improve the service they provide to both the department and community.
• Focusing the entire Department on engaging youth, an investment which will have an impact on these young people now and on the entire city in the future.
• Building on what the MPD is doing right.