Investigation Finds DC Police Officials Manipulated Crime Stats
An investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department's Internal Affairs division has confirmed that 15 high-ranking officials manipulated crime statistics to make violent crime appear lower in Washington, DC. The findings corroborate earlier testimonies from commanders who said they were pressured to reclassify serious offenses as lesser crimes. Former Chief Pamela Smith resigned following an interim report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that detailed systemic manipulation of public crime data.
- ▪The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that DC police supervisors were pressured to reclassify serious crimes as lesser offenses to influence public perception.
- ▪MPD commanders testified that Chief Pamela Smith emphasized specific crime statistics, incentivizing subordinates to alter crime classifications.
- ▪The MPD's internal investigation sustained accusations of data manipulation against 15 senior officials, leading to the resignation of Chief Pamela Smith.
- ▪Washington, DC recorded 187 homicides in 2024, a rate of 27 per 100,000 residents, significantly higher than other major U.S. cities like Boston, New York, and Los Angeles.
- ▪The Department of Justice launched an inquiry into DC's crime reporting practices after public concerns and media scrutiny over the accuracy of the data.
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Investigation Finds DC Police Officials Manipulated Crime Stats John Sexton 9:20 PM | May 01, 2026 AP Photo/Julio Cortez Last August when President Trump announced he was sending federal agents in to Washington, DC to help deal with crime, there an almost instant refrain which echoed from every news outlet in the country: Crime has already dropped in DC. Advertisement googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display("div-gpt-300x250_4"); //googletag.pubads().refresh([gptAdSlot["div-gpt-300x250_4"]]) }); As I pointed out at the time, it really felt like talking points had gone out because every news outlet was saying the same thing and almost none of of them were willing to admit that DC's version of lower crime was still about 3x-8x higher than in other big cities in the U.S.
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