Ramsey Ally Named Chief

"We were hoping for someone to come in and transform the agency," he said. "We would have appreciated having some input into the process."

Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the council's Judiciary Committee, said he would have preferred Fenty to have conducted a broader search. In 1998, city officials vetted 50 candidates from across the country before then-Mayor Marion Barry and others hired Ramsey, who had been the deputy in Chicago.

On the flip side, Mendelson said that Lanier is "well regarded" and that "hiring within means it's more likely that changes will be in line with the current improvements rather than just doing things differently, which is more likely with an outsider."

Ramsey, 56, the longest-serving chief in more than three decades of home rule, had said he hoped to continue as chief at least until his contract expires in 2008. He will receive six months of severance pay and upgrades to his retirement package, stepping down after Fenty is sworn in Jan. 2.

"I support this decision 100 percent," Ramsey said. "I did what I was brought here to do. I turned the department around. It's not perfect. Nothing ever is. If you want miracles, go to a church. . . . But don't feel sorry for me. Cathy can take this department to another level."

Lanier joined the force in 1990, when the department was under pressure to quickly hire hundreds of officers. Officials cut corners on background checks and training for recruits in 1989 and 1990, and dozens of officers hired in those years wound up in trouble over criminal charges and disciplinary problems. Lanier was a standout, moving up the ranks to sergeant, lieutenant, captain, inspector and commander.

Lanier got to know Fenty during her time patrolling his ward but said she was shocked when Fenty offered her the job Nov. 10, three days after he won the election. She accepted two days later despite concern that chiefs usually keep their jobs only three to five years.

"I do have my running shoes and my BlackBerry ready, sir," Lanier said, laughing along with Fenty, a triathlete known for long work hours.

Asked to assess her achievements as a commander, Lanier talked extensively about the "precision patrols" she enacted in the 4th Police District, assigning extra officers to attack crime hot spots based on data analysis.

Leopold Wilburn, a Ward 4 activist, said Lanier developed a reputation as someone willing to listen to residents and incorporate their ideas.

"We invited her to functions, and she always came and never said no," Wilburn said. "She was right there on top of everything."

Lanier, who is white, acknowledged that she might face skeptics in a city often polarized by race and a department whose only female chief, Sonya T. Proctor, served a temporary assignment for a few months before Ramsey arrived. While coming up the ranks, Lanier said, she made a point of turning down assignments usually reserved for women, such as overseeing youth and communications issues.

"If people get to know what kind of person you are, it may be an issue in the beginning, but it's not a big deal," she said. "It will really boil down to: Do I do a good job for everybody, or do I not?"