Critics Focus Too Much on Top Slots, Chief Says

Lanier Contends That Performance, Not Just Racial Balance, Must Be Considered

Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said that she has demoted white as well as black assistant chiefs this year. (By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said yesterday that her reshuffling of the department has been misinterpreted by some critics and that she has treated whites and African Americans equally in assembling her new command team.

"I want people to get the full picture and not focus on the wrong things," said Lanier, who launched the first major overhaul of the department in about 10 years.

She said she did demote three veteran black assistant chiefs -- a move that generated concern in some communities in the majority-black city. But what's being missed, she said, is that she took similar action this year against three veteran white assistant chiefs. Two have left the department, and the third has submitted retirement papers.

Lanier's plan to streamline the police bureaucracy has been getting generally good reviews from D.C. Council members and community activists since she announced it Monday. But the demotions of the veteran assistant chiefs -- Willie Dandridge, Alton Bigelow and Brian Jordan -- generated questions from some community activists, council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and others about preserving racial balance at the top.

Lanier scaled back the number of assistant chiefs to from eight to six. Of the six commanders she chose for the positions, four are white and two are black. She stressed that all of them came up through the department's ranks, just as she did. Lanier said she looked first at performance and then at the racial balance.

"As I moved through this, I didn't say, 'I can't promote this person because they are white or black,' " Lanier said.

The reorganization is Lanier's biggest initiative since she took over in December. The racial makeup of the top command has long been a sensitive issue for the department.

Lanier, the city's first permanent female police chief, said her goal is to cut crime and improve public safety. She said that her moves, which take effect Sunday, will give top commanders more flexibility in deploying officers, enhancing street patrols and improving the department's ties to the public.

Her changes centralize the direction of the city's 2,000 patrol officers under one assistant chief, Diane Groomes. Lanier's predecessor, Charles H. Ramsey, had patrols report to three assistant chiefs who oversaw regional operations command centers. By cutting the bureaucracy, Lanier said, the department will be more nimble in dealing with community needs.

Groomes, who is white, had headed the 1st Police District. Lanier's other assistant chiefs include Patrick Burke, Joshua Ederheimer and Peter Newsham, who are white, and Winston Robinson and Alfred Durham, who are black. Newsham and Robinson also served as assistant chiefs under Ramsey.

Lanier said that those focusing on the assistant chief position are looking too narrowly at the diversity issue. The top management ranks also include 14 inspectors and 16 commanders. Six inspectors and 10 commanders are black.

The chief said that the city's seven commanders of patrol districts are the "most visible to the community" because they hold neighborhood meetings and often have a strong presence on Web-based community message boards. Four of those commanders are black.

Under Ramsey, African Americans accounted for about half of the top management ranks.

The department is about 30 percent white, 62 percent black, 7 percent Hispanic and 2 percent Asian or Pacific Islander.