Charles H. Ramsey
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Charles H. Ramsey was the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC) from 1998-2006.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, he joined the Chicago Police Department as an 18 year old cadet in 1968. After serving six years as a patrol officer, he was promoted to sergeant in 1977. He was appointed a lieutenant in 1984 and became captain in 1988. He served as Commander of the Narcotics Section from 1989 to 1992 before spending two years as a Deputy Chief of the police force's Patrol Division. In 1994 he was appointed Deputy Superintendent.
In 1998, he became the MPDC chief. He has been involved in several high profile cases as chief of police in America's capital city, such as the Chandra Levy murder investigation. He has also been in the spotlight since the September 11, 2001 attacks focused attention on security issues around Washington, D.C. During the state funeral of Ronald Reagan he was in the spotlight again as he had to scramble to deal with security, working with the Secret Service, the agency that was in charge because DHS designated the funeral a National Special Security Event (NSSE). He also paid his respects to the former president when he lay in state.
Ramsey is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois.
He has served as an adjunct professor at Lewis University and Northwestern University.
[edit] Pershing Park arrests
Ramsey was the target of controversy when, on September 27, 2002, the MPD made a mass arrest of a large group of demonstrators who had assembled in DC's Pershing Park to protest the World Bank and IMF meetings. The police enclosed over 400 people in the park and arrested them without ever ordering them to disperse or allowing them to leave the park. Many of the arrested were not actually demonstrators, but were journalists, legal observers, and pedestrians. On January 13, 2006, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the arrests violated the Fourth Amendment and that Chief Ramsey could be held personally liable for the violations.
[edit] Resignation
On November 20, 2006, Ramsey announced that he will step down as police chief on January 2, 2007, the inauguration day of DC Mayor-Elect Adrian M. Fenty. Fenty selected Cathy Lanier, a 39-year-old commander of the MPDC's Homeland Security Division, as his replacement.
Even though Ramsey's official last day was December 28, 2006, he stayed on until January 2, to deal with security during the state funeral of former president Gerald Ford. Like during the Reagan funeral, he worked with the Secret Service, the agency in charge because DHS designated the funeral a National Special Security Event.
