Richard Pennington (November 26, 1946 – May 4, 2017) served as

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

of the

New Orleans Police Department The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) has primary responsibility for law enforcement in New Orleans, Louisiana. The department's jurisdiction covers all of Orleans Parish, while the city is divided into eight police districts. The NOPD has ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

from 1994 to 2002 and Chief of the Atlanta Police Department in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

from 2002 to 2010.

Early life

Pennington was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

where his mother was a barber with her own shop and his father worked on the

Rock Island Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

. The railroad closed while Pennington was in high school and the family moved to

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the sou ...

, where his father became a crane operator with U.S. Steel as well as a part-time deputy sheriff. Pennington also had an uncle in the Chicago police force. After her children grew up and moved out, Pennington's mother opened a pool hall and a restaurant as well as built apartments as rental units. Pennington also spent childhood summers in rural

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

with his grandfather.

Early career and education

At 18, Pennington enlisted in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

and served as a member of the U.S. Air Force Security Police unit during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. He began his career in law enforcement in 1968 as an officer in the

Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), more commonly known as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the DC Police, and, colloquially, the DCPD, is the primary law enforcement agency for the District of Columbi ...

(MPD); his first partner was Donald Graham who became publisher of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. While working full-time, Pennington earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in criminal justice from American University and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in counseling from the

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1851 and is the only public university in the city. UDC is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall ...

Career

Pennington served in MPD for 26 years and was eventually promoted to assistant chief. In October 1994, he became police chief in New Orleans, where he was credited with major improvements in what had been a poorly regarded and corruption-ridden police department. In fact, conditions in the department were so bad before Pennington arrived, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

was threatening to move in and take over the city's law enforcement. On the day of his inauguration, he was notified of an investigation that one of his officers had murdered a witness. Under Pennington, more than 350 officers were disciplined, fired (more than 100) or indicted for misconduct, while one officer would become the second sentenced to death for violent crimes. Pennington was a candidate in the

2002 New Orleans mayoral election The New Orleans mayoral election of 2002 was an election for Mayor of New Orleans; the primary round of voting was held on February 2, 2002, followed by a runoff on March 2. It resulted in the election of Ray Nagin as mayor. Background In Ne ...

. Although he led in most pre-election polls, he finished second to

Ray Nagin Clarence Raymond Joseph Nagin Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former politician who was the 60th Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 2002 to 2010. A Democrat, Nagin became internationally known in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane K ...

in the first round of voting, and lost the runoff election to Nagin by a margin of 59% to 41%. Shortly thereafter, he resigned as New Orleans police chief. In July 2002,

Shirley Franklin Shirley Clarke Franklin (born May 10, 1945) is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party who served as the 58th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2002 to 2010. She currently serves as a member on the board of directors for both Delt ...

hired Pennington as the police chief of Atlanta, Georgia. He served in that position until 2010, overseeing a 39% reduction in violent crime in the city. In 2009, Pennington was a defendant in a lawsuit which alleges that he, along with other senior officers, engaged in a criminal conspiracy to retaliate against a police officer who testified on behalf of a defendant in a bond hearing in federal court. The case, ''Reid v. City of Atlanta, et al., United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division'', is pending on cross motions for summary judgment. Pennington was also a defendant in the federal civil rights lawsuit of ''Calhoun v. Pennington'', filed in November 2009 on behalf of patrons of the Atlanta Eagle, a

gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term '' gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once serv ...

that was subject to the

Atlanta Eagle police raid The Atlanta Eagle police raid was a police raid targeting the Atlanta Eagle, a gay bar in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The raid occurred on September 10, 2009, due to anonymous tips alleging that illegal drug use and sex was occurring at t ...

in 2009.

Personal life

Pennington was married from 1974 to 1984 and had one son from this marriage. He remarried in 1992 and had a second son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennington, Richard 1947 births 2017 deaths American University School of Public Affairs alumni African-American police officers People from Gary, Indiana Chiefs of the New Orleans Police Department University of the District of Columbia alumni Chiefs of the Atlanta Police Department Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia officers People from Little Rock, Arkansas Candidates in the 2002 United States elections Louisiana Democrats United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians