Cathy Lynn Lanier was the 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 achieve the position. In May 2012, Mayor Vincent C. Gray agreed to retain Lanier as police chief under a new five-year contract. On August 16, 2016, it was announced that Lanier would retire from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia in September 2016 to become Senior Vice President of Security for the National Football League.