Pamela Smith will serve as Washington's next police chief, making her the first black woman to hold the role in the city's history.

Smith will take on the Metropolitan Police Department's top role with over 25 years of law enforcement experience behind her. She will take over a department that is tasked with wrangling the district's criminals amid legislative tactics to try and bring overall crime rates down.

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Before becoming Washington police chief, Smith served as chief of police for the United States Park Police. She served in a wide variety of positions — including in training, leading patrol, and handling disciplinary matters — in San Francisco, Washington, and New York before becoming Park Police chief.

Smith joined Washington police in May 2022 as the department's first chief equity officer, and she "made a significant impact in a brief time span."

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Smith is a "well-respected leader" who has a "strong commitment to making D.C. safer."

“She knows Washington, D.C., she knows MPD, she knows policing, and she understands very well the network of law enforcement and public safety teams that work to keep Washington, D.C., safe. And as we know, she is resilient and ready for this role," Bowser said at a news conference on Monday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

Smith's appointment is a result of Bowser's nationwide search, which she launched after Washington Police Chief Robert Contee retired in April to work for the FBI. Smith will replace interim chief Ashan Benedict.

Smith said at Monday's news conference that she believes she brings “a fresh perspective, a different kind of energy, a different level of passion to what I’m going to do.”

As a child, “I had no hopes. I had no dreams. They were far beyond my reach,” Smith added. Now, she said, “I believe that all things are possible.”

Smith is one of two permanent female Washington chiefs. The first was Cathy L. Lanier, who led the department from January 2007 to September 2016. Sonya Proctor, another female chief, served as interim for five months beginning in November 1997.

As the new chief, Smith will take on a heavy burden as city leaders work to address the rising crime rates. The council has worked to update the public safety laws that have not been comprehensively changed since 1901.

On June 7, Washington recorded more than 100 homicides in the first six months of 2023, the earliest the district has hit the mark in two decades. This statistic followed a report that showed the U.S. attorney for Washington declined to prosecute 67% of people arrested by police officers in 2022.

Contee, before he retired, said his officers were not to blame for the lack of prosecutions.

On July 11, the Council of the District of Columbia passed an emergency public safety bill that creates new offenses for firing a gun in public and makes it easier for prosecutors to extradite people for misdemeanors. The most significant provision makes it easier for judges to hold people in jail pending trial if they have a history of committing violent crimes.

The passage of the emergency crime bill comes after Congress and President Joe Biden overturned the district's law that would have weakened penalties for several crimes, including carjackings and homicide, and gone into effect in 2026.

Biden later sided with the Washington councilmembers and allowed the city's police reform code that prohibits the use of neck restraints, increases access to body camera footage, and revises officer discipline procedures to remain law.

As of Monday, homicides are up 18% from this time in 2022. Total violent crime is up 36%, and all crime is up 30% compared to this time last year as well.

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“As a law enforcement officer and a member of this community, I am also troubled by the crime that is plaguing our community, which is why it is important for me to be engaged and wanting to make the District of Columbia safer," Smith said.

"But let me be clear. As a community, we must tackle the violent crime issues that we are experiencing in the district,” she added. “The community wants the police to be the police and do so in a constitutional, safe, and respectful manner. Make no mistake about it — I will be laser-focused to ensure that we do everything we can in this space.”