Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that Police Chief Pamela Smith will be stepping down from her position.
Bowser said in the announcement that Smith “dramatically drove down violent crime, drove down the homicide rate to its lowest levels in eight years, and helped us restore a sense of safety and accountability in our neighborhoods.”
Smith said in a statement that her role “has been both challenging and rewarding. I am proud of the accomplishments we achieved together, and I thank the residents of this city for their trust and partnership. While my aspiration has always been to see zero percent crime, we are not there yet. Nonetheless, we have made tremendous progress, and there remains important work ahead.”
She told Fox 5 that family influenced her decision to resign. “Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that Police Chief Pamela Smith will be stepping down from her position,” she told the outlet. “Being able to come home for Thanksgiving two years after my mom passed really resonated with me and has allowed me to make a decision that I think is necessary, not just only for me, but also for my family.”
Smith noted that the police department no longer works with ICE. “I think we all know that when the presidential executive crime emergency was announced, we had to work with ICE,” she said. “Since that time, we have not. We do not work with ICE. We do work with our federal partners.”
In September, Bowser issued an order directing the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to continue cooperating with federal law enforcement officials. The order supported the work of the Safe and Beautiful Emergency Operations Center (SBEOC) in managing DC’s response to the Trump-established Safe and Beautiful Task Force. “The SBEOC will coordinate centralized communications; formulate post-emergency planning; formulate post-emergency operations; and ensure coordination with federal law enforcement to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District,” the order read.
