The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is pleased to announce that Mr. Ashan M. Benedict has been appointed to serve as the Executive Assistant Chief of Police. In this role, he will serve as second in command and be responsible for assisting the Chief of Police in directing and providing long-range planning, development, and coordination of operations and procedures for the department.
Before joining the Metropolitan Police Department, Executive Assistant Chief Benedict served the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in several major posts of duty, most recently serving as the Special Agent in Charge in the Washington, DC Field Division. He began his ATF career in 1998 as a special agent assigned to ATF’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force in Washington, DC. As a street agent, he investigated violent drug trafficking organizations, armed robberies of commercial businesses, armed carjackings, gang-related racketeering murders and firearms trafficking offenses.
Executive Assistant Chief Benedict was involved in ATF’s response and investigation of several notable events and incidents, including the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon; the Beltway Sniper investigation; ATF’s response and support to New Orleans, LA after Hurricane Katrina; the Washington, DC Navy Yard active shooter; the San Bernardino, CA, mass shooting terrorist attack in December 2015 and the mass mailing of pipe bombs in New York City in October 2018. Benedict also was the on-scene Incident Commander for ATF’s deployment in response to the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Benedict holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Fordham University and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Syracuse University, Maxwell School, in Washington, DC. He is also a graduate of the Asian American Government Executive Network’s Senior Executive Service Development Program (SESDP). In 2017, Mr. Benedict received the Federal Drug Agent Foundation’s (FDAF) Lifetime Achievement Award. He and his family currently reside in Washington, DC.
The Metropolitan Police Department strives to ensure the safety and well-being of all residents and visitors to the District of Columbia on a daily basis. Key components of MPD’s objectives and mission focus on building strong partnerships with the community, as well as remaining innovative and a national leader for policing agencies in the United States.