US Park Police names Pamela Smith its 1st Black female chief February 25, 2021 at 4:10 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. Park Police on Thursday named Pamela Smith as its new chief, making her the first Black woman to lead the 230-year-old law enforcement agency.
Smith, a 23-year veteran of the force, announced she would begin her term by establishing body-worn cameras for all Park Police officers.
“This is one of the many steps we must take to continue to build trust and credibility with the public we have been entrusted to serve,” Smith said in a statement, adding that body-worn cameras are “good for the public and good for our officers.”
Will Smith, 52, posts a now and then photo series with his siblings Harry and Ellen as he jokes that even 40 years later as adults they STILL can t take a decent photo while calling them jokas
The officers fired 10 shots at Ghaisar after a stop-and-go car chase that began along the GW Parkway in Alexandria, NBC Washington previously reported. A Fairfax County police dashcam captured the officers following Ghaisar during the car chase.
But neither Park Police nor the FBI have released many details about what happened, and after the shooting, the Ghaisar family, along with local lawmakers, called for Park Police to start wearing body cameras.
On Thursday, Pamela Smith was named the new chief of Park Police, becoming the first Black woman to run the agency. Smith says she plans to implement body cameras across the entire department by the end of the year.
A special grand jury assembled by the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office indicted two federal officers in the fatal 2017 shooting of 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar. U.S. Park Police officers Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard were indicted separately on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said. News4 reported late last year that.