Peter Newsham (born ) was the Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) from January 2017 to January 2021. He is currently Chief of the Prince William County Police Department in Virginia, having been appointed to that post in November, 2020. A veteran of the police department of Washington, D.C., since 1989, he participated in various capacities in numerous high-profile investigations and arrests, including the disappearance of Chandra Levy, the Washington Navy Yard shooting, and the murder of Seth Rich. He became the Chief of Police in January 2017, after having previously served as deputy to his predecessor, Police Chief Cathy Lanier. In November 2020, it was announced that Newsham would be leaving the District to become Chief of Police for nearby Prince William County, Virginia; he was succeeded in the District of Columbia in January 2021 by Robert Contee. Early life and education Newsham was born in Providence, Rhode Island and grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts. He attended North Adams State College (since renamed the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) and received a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating college Newsham moved to Washington, D.C. with the intention of getting a job on Capitol Hill. Newsham never worked on Capitol Hill, and ended up applying to the Metropolitan Police Department. In 1996 he attended the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and earned his J.D. degree in 2000. , Newsham is a member in good standing of the Maryland and District of Columbia bars. Career Newsham joined the Metropolitan Police Department in 1989. In the 1990s, Newsham was selected by then-Chief Charles H. Ramsey "to oversee a department overhaul after concerns surfaced in the late 1990s over the high number of deadly shootings by officers". In 2000 Chief Ramsey appointed Newsham Commander of the Second District. In April of that year he participated in the investigation of a high-profile shooting at the National Zoo. Newsham also participated in the investigation of the May 2001 disappearance of federal intern Chandra Levy. In April 2002, Newsham was reported to have "ordered police officers to cordon off Pershing Park, about two blocks from the White House, after he observed some protesters committing acts of vandalism". This was characterized by detractors of the decision as a mass arrests of protesters, with attorneys claiming protesters were arrested