National Football League

NFL hires Washington, D.C. police chief as head of security

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:27 p.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Cathy Lanier has been hired as the NFL's head of security after serving as Washington, D.C.'s police chief for almost 10 years.

"To women who think that there are limitations to what you can do and where you can work, the NFL reaching out to me for this position says that there are not limitations for where you can work because of your age, your race or your gender," Lanier said Tuesday.

Lanier, 49, will be in charge of security for all 32 teams and the Super Bowl.

Washington was dubbed the nation's murder capital during the crack epidemic of the 1990s — with more than 300 slayings a year in the city of roughly 600,000 — but violent crime had already decreased significantly by the time Lanier became chief amid the city's booming post-9/11 economy. Homicides continued to drop to a low of 88 in 2012, although, slayings increased last year by more than 50 percent, and killings this year are continuing at 2015's pace.

A Maryland native from a family of police officers, Lanier was a popular and inspirational public figure, overcoming adversity to rise to the rank of chief. Lanier dropped out of school in ninth grade and became a mom at 15, but joined the force after passing her high school equivalency test and went on to get a bachelor's degree and two master's.

"This city gave me an opportunity when many would not have," Lanier said. "I owe my life to this city, to the residents and to the department. ... It's bittersweet, it's heartbreaking to leave the city I grew up in."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.