| Page 2 of 2 < |
D.C. police chief transcends race and gender in serving the city
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
|
Of course, not everybody likes the chief even when the department is on the case. Some worry, for instance, that Lanier is turning the police force into something akin to a high-tech, military covert-ops unit, lacking only a Predator drone, so far.
"Look here," she said, taking her iPad and touching a special Google Earth icon on the screen. An aerial view of the Washington metropolitan area came into view, with the names of every neighborhood clearly labeled. She zoomed in to rooftop level and said softly, "I can take a camera from here and look up and down a street."
As to complaints that she plays fast and loose with civil rights, Lanier is unfazed.
"We've got the kind of community cooperation going where people are starting to believe that we can get under a hundred homicides this year," she said. "It's a symbolic number, but it's important because it represents the realization of a belief that we can make this a safe city for everybody."
Asked last week by Kojo Nnamdi, talk show host on WAMU radio (88.5 FM), whether she would stay on the job if Fenty were to lose his bid for reelection in the fall, Lanier said, "The people determine whether I stay or go. That's who I work for."
Throughout the dinner, the people kept waving and stopping by the table to express their appreciation. Outside the restaurant, you'd have thought she was a rock star.
"Chief Lanier, may I take a picture with you?" a man asked as he handed a cellphone camera to one of her assistant chiefs. From across the street, a woman who appeared to be in her late teens swooned: "Chief Lanier! I'm so proud of you."
So, I mused, that she, of all people, appeared to have overcome the burden of race and gender in a city frequently divided by both.
"When I put on this uniform, I am not white, nor am I a woman," Lanier replied. Then, after smoothing a swath of blond hair beneath her chief's hat, she added with a streetwise twang, "I am the po-lice."