A day after receiving a new, five-year contract, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier is denouncing a news report that she doesn't live in the District, calling it a "really cheap shot."
She also disputed the same Washington Times story that says her police sergeant boyfriend benefits from extra overtime pay.
Lanier took several questions Thursday on her monthly appearance on WTOP radio, but she became most animated when she was asked about the front-page story in the Times that said her boyfriend earned $34,000 in overtime, suggesting it might be favoritism in the special operations division.
"First, I think it's a really cheap shot on my personal life," she said. “All the benefits that every member of the department gets are codified in law, and they all get the same benefits. They can’t be manipulated. So to suggest that I manipulated a particular sergeant’s benefits is just absolutely absurd.”
The article also suggested that the chief, who owns a home in northeast Washington, actually lives with her boyfriend in a Maryland house they own together. By law she must live in the District.
“We don't live together,” she said.
She admitted to owning a home in Maryland, though.
“In fact, when I refinanced I had to pay extra fees because it’s not listed as my primary residence,” Lanier said.
Lanier was appointed chief in 2007 and said she has lived in D.C. since then. She told News4 after the program that there's another indication she's a District citizen: She pays income taxes to the District of Columbia.
“Lots of them,” she said.
Lanier said she's on call 24 hours a day, so it makes sense to live in the District even if it wasn’t required.
