Rend Smith’s profile of Cathy Lanier in Washington City Paper this week has prompted an intense online conversation about the Chief’s popularity— and effectiveness— in DC.
Smith looks at Lanier’s approval rating (“cosmic 84 percent”), muses on the possibility that she could run for mayor (“she’s a Ward 5 resident whose blue-collar affectations play best in the parts of town where her original patron, Fenty, got his butt kicked”), reports a little on her background (after becoming a teen mom she got her GED and tried waitressing and sales before a boyfriend encouraged her to apply to MPD), and looks into Lanier’s policing style (” stop viewing crime stats in isolation, instead factoring in details like “population density, demographic trends, projected economic development, physical infrastructure” to create a broader picture.”).
Read the City Paper story (and comments thread) here.
