The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), more commonly known locally as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and, colloquially, DC Police, is the primary law enforcement agency for the District of Columbia, in the United States. With approximately 3,400 officers and 600 civilian staff, it is the sixth-largest municipal police department in the United States. The department serves an area of 68 square miles (180 km2) and a population of over 700,000 people. Established on August 6, 1861, the MPD is one of the oldest police departments in the United States. The MPD headquarters is at the Henry J. Daly Building, located on Indiana Avenue in Judiciary Square across the street from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The department's mission is to "safeguard the District of Columbia and protect its residents and visitors with the highest regard for the sanctity of human life". The MPD's regulations are compiled in title 5, chapter 1 of the District of Columbia Code.
Charles H. Ramsey is a former American law enforcement officer who recently served as the Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department. Prior to assuming that post in January 2008, he had served as Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC) from 1998 to early 2007. In January 2017, he became a regular CNN contributor.
The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories. It answers to the Capitol Police Board and is the only full-service federal law enforcement agency appointed by the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States.
Joel Elias Spingarn High School was a public high school located in the District of Columbia, USA. The school is named after Joel Elias Spingarn (1875–1939) an American educator and literary critic who established the Spingarn Medal in 1913, awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African American.
Cathy Lynn Lanier 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. 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. 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. Her last day as police chief was September 15, 2016, when she was succeeded by her deputy, Peter Newsham. Lanier was the longest serving Chief of Police in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is the primary law enforcement agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is also the largest police department in Minnesota. Formed in 1867, it is the second-oldest police department in Minnesota, after the Saint Paul Police Department that formed in 1854. A short-lived Board of Police Commissioners existed from 1887 to 1890.
The District of Columbia Protective Services Division is a division of the Department of General Services of the District of Columbia Government. The organization is responsible for "law enforcement activities and physical security of all properties owned, leased or otherwise under the control of the Government of the District of Columbia."
Muriel Elizabeth Bowser is an American politician who has been serving as the 8th and current Mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2015. She is the second female mayor of the District of Columbia after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position.
Susan L. Rahr is an American law enforcement officer who served as the Sheriff of King County, Washington from 2005 to 2012. Rahr was appointed Interim Police Chief of the Seattle Police Department by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell on May 30, 2024. Rahr is not seeking the permanent position but will assist in the national search for the next chief of police.
The Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, generally simply referred to as the Chief of Police, is the head of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C. The current acting Chief of Police is Pamela A. Smith, who succeeded interim chief, Ashan Benedict.
The United States police-rank model is generally quasi-military in structure. A uniform system of insignia based on that of the US Army and Marine Corps is used to help identify an officer's seniority.
On November 4, 2014, Washington, D.C., held an election for its mayor, concurrently with U.S. Senate elections in various states, U.S. House elections, and various state and local elections.
The Henry J. Daly Building is located at 300 Indiana Avenue, NW, and 301 C Street, NW, in the Judiciary Square neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. The administrative building is owned by the government of the District of Columbia and has served as the home of various city offices since it opened in 1941 as a unified location for previously dispersed municipal functions. Currently, the building is primarily occupied by the Metropolitan Police Department; although the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) also maintain offices in the building.
Peter Newsham was the Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) from January 2017 to January 2021. He is currently Chief of the Prince William County Police Department in Virginia, having been appointed to that post in November, 2020.
The first cases relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C., were reported on March 7, 2020. The city has enacted a variety of public health measures in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, including limiting business activities, suspending non-essential work, and closing down schools.
Law enforcement mounted a response to the January 6 United States Capitol attack, initially failing to maintain security perimeters and protect parts of the building from being breached and occupied, but succeeding at protecting members of Congress, and subsequently, as reinforcements arrived, to secure the breached Capitol.
In March of 2022, a man shot five homeless men in Washington, D.C., and New York City, wounding three and killing two. Shortly before midnight on March 13, 2022, the New York and District of Columbia police departments announced that they believed a single person was responsible for the attacks. The fatal shooting in New York City, caught on tape, shows a man inspecting a homeless man sleeping on a sidewalk cornering a building, then pointing a gun towards the man's upper body and opening fire.
In the early morning of January 7, 2023, in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jason Lewis shot and killed 13-year-old Karon Blake.
Brian O'Hara is an American law enforcement official who is serving as the 54th Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department. He previously served as Public Safety Director of Newark, New Jersey and as an officer in the Newark police force.
Pamela A. Smith is an American police officer serving as the current Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. Smith began serving as the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia after being unanimously confirmed by the D.C. Council on November 7, 2023. She had been serving in an acting capacity since July 2023. She joined the MPD in 2022 as its chief equity officer. Smith was previously the United States Park Police chief of police from 2021 to 2022. She was the first African-American female to serve in the role.
District of Columbia 
Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia 
