Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
law enforcement agency in Washington, D.C., United States
The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), more commonly known locally as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and, colloquially, DC Police, is the primary law enforcement agency for the District of Columbia, in the United States. With approximately 3,200 officers and 600 civilian staff, it is the sixth-largest municipal police department in the United States. The department serves an area of 68 square miles (180 km2) and a population of over 700,000 people. Established on August 6, 1861, the MPD is one of the oldest police departments in the United States. The MPD headquarters was formerly located at the Henry J. Daly Building, located at 300 Indiana Avenue NW in Judiciary Square across the street from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. However, in 2023, MPD moved into One Judiciary Square located at 441 4th St NW when the Daly Building started extensive renovation and refurbishment. The department's mission is to "safeguard the District of Columbia and protect its residents and visitors with the highest regard for the sanctity of human life". The MPD's regulations are compiled in title 5, chapter 1 of the District of Columbia Code.
The MPD has a broad array of specialized services, including the Emergency Response Team, K9, harbor patrol, air support, explosive ordnance division, homeland security, criminal intelligence, narcotics, and the violent crime suppression units. The MPD also operates the Command Information Center (CIC) which monitors hundreds of cameras across the city, license plate readers, ShotSpotter, and many other intelligence and surveillance devices.
The public source identifies “Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia” as law enforcement agency in Washington, D.C., United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Metropolitan, Police and Department.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1350854. VIAF identifies the subject as 146551904. The Library of Congress control number is n50067523. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1861 and 2023.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.