Metropolitan Police Department: Patrol Services Bureau

On September 23, 2007, Chief of Police Cathy L. Lanier restructured the Metropolitan Police Department, abolishing the Regional Operations Commands North, Central, and East, the Operational Support Command, and the Office of Youth Education and Violence Prevention, and reassigning many of their functions to the newly created Patrol Services and School Security Bureau headed by Assistant Chief of Police Diane Groomes. The restructuring effectively streamlines the MPD, reducing the hierarchy of the Department, and creating an efficient, and highly functional command structure, which will improve the level of police service to residents in each of the District’s neighborhoods.

The Patrol Services and School Security Bureau is now home to the entire branch of the MPD assigned to Patrol, Patrol Support Division, School Safety Division, Special Liaison Units, Central Cellblock/Prisoner Processing, and Community Services and Youth Outreach Division. The Bureau remains committed to the mission of the Metropolitan Police Department and to continuing to work “…to safeguard the District of Columbia and protect its residents and visitors by providing the highest quality of police service with integrity and compassion as well as a commitment to innovation that integrates people, technology and progressive business systems.”

Additionally, Chief Lanier has charged the Patrol Services and School Security Bureau and the entire Department in her Guiding Principles with changing the culture of the MPD from reacting to crime to building and sustaining safe neighborhoods, reducing crime and the fear of crime in the community and making the relationship between police and neighborhoods paramount – tailoring policing to neighborhoods. Other goals include focusing on how the Department can address youth issues, enhancing follow up in all aspects of the Department to meet community needs, encouraging teamwork and leadership at every level of the police department and throughout the community, and building on programs and services in the Department that are already successful.

Assistant Chief Groomes brings immense energy to the Patrol Services and School Security Bureau. She began her career in 1990 as a patrol officer, and is well-known and respected throughout the District as one of the most responsive and hard working members of MPD with outstanding success in crime reduction, award winning PSA management and exceptional community relations. Assistant Chief Groomes has extensive goals for her bureau, citing a focus on accessibility, responsiveness, visibility and accountability to all communities in Washington, DC. She believes the Bureau needs to get back to some basics: redeploying foot patrols and improving communication in meetings and at events in a proactive and preventative fashion. Additionally, Assistant Chief Groomes intends to “get progressive” by providing outreach to those in need, partnering with organizations and citizens in the community that work to prevent crime and violence, and deploying additional officers into the schools, recreation centers and Boys and Girls Clubs.

The Patrol Services and School Security Bureau is located at 801 Shepherd Street, NW and can be reached by telephone at (202) 576-6600. The Patrol Services and School Security Bureau Command Staff for the Seven Districts include: