The
Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, abbreviated as the
Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia (
MPDC), or in general simply called the
Metropolitan Police Department (
MPD), and in the U.S. and D.C. codes referred to as the
Metropolitan Police force, is the primary
law enforcement agency of
Washington, D.C. The MPD has a unique role among
law enforcement in the United States in that it serves as a local police department, with county, state and federal responsibilities, and is under a municipal government but operates under federal authority.