DC Police Chief Has a New Best Friend

One thing is sure about Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier: She has a soft spot for canines, and not just the pooches that sniff around investigations. Lanier also has a history of taking in shelter dogs, especially ones with special needs.

She’s apparently just as affectionate with dogs that join MPD, though, judging by a pair of photos she sent yesterday to police email groups. Above and below, here’s Lanier posing with Sam, a bloodhound that MPD recently acquired to work on missing persons cases. “While we have several dogs that are trained to conduct human tracks, this dog’s sole purpose is to track people—even over long distances,” Lanier writes.

DC currently has 26 open missing persons cases, according to the federal National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Photograph via Metropolitan Police Department.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.