Former Baptist Minister to Lead Police Force

Washington, D.C. has a crime problem, and reportedly that’s putting it mildly. The crime rate in the nation’s capital has increased precipitously in recent years with murders and carjackings taking the forefront. However, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), the city council, and the U.S. Congress, which holds jurisdiction over many city matters, find themselves at loggerheads over how to handle the brewing public safety crisis that touches directly on national security.

According to a new report from The Associated Press, newly minted Police Chief Pamela Smith, who from an earlier career as a Baptist minister speaks with the flow and eloquence of the pulpit, told the press at her first conference, “I stand before you as a child who had no hopes, who had no dreams — they were far beyond my reach. But I believe that all things are possible.”

Smith called herself a “pistol-packing preacher” speaking to a community luncheon with faith leaders on the city’s west side, according to WUSA9’s Evan Koslof. (Excerpt from DC Enquirer.)