DC police chief used ‘fear, intimidation, threats’ to manipulate crime data before leaving dept: House Oversight

After there were reports of manipulation of crime data, the House Oversight Committee "conducted eight transcribed interviews with the seven acting—and one suspended—MPD commanders," which revealed that "there are clear pressures placed on MPD personnel to lower the classifications of crime to present to the public the perception of low crime in the District," according to the report.

"By pressuring her command staff to alter classifications for the sole purpose of artificially reducing crime numbers reported out to the public, Chief Smith incentivized the manipulation of crime numbers, which do not adequately account for the crime taking place in D.C.," the report read in part.

"The Committee’s investigation heard consistent testimony about frustration and exhaustion among MPD commanders and the manifestation of a culture of fear, intimidation, threats, and retaliation by Chief Smith. Often, these manifestations were triggered whenever the Chief was presented with what she considers 'bad news,' particularly when that news pertained to any rise in public crime statistics," the report added.

The transcribed interviews with the seven acting and one former commanders revealed that Smith led the department with a toxic management system where accuracy was dispensed with in order to achieve better optics regarding crime data.

One commander, identified as “Commander E” in the report, said in his interview, "On two occasions I had… robbery sprees, and I think I had, like, 13 robberies in over a night period, a day period.”

"And, yeah, I was – usually you have, there's – an order of how you brief out, but at the very beginning of the crime briefing, the chief said, ‘I need to see [Commander E] up front to brief first.’ So I got up there and I was basically admonished. I was like, ‘How could I let these robberies happen?’ It was embarrassing, but it happened. And then it stemmed other meetings after that to sit down and kind of drill down to what's happening. I did feel like I did the robberies after I left. I literally was, like, I swear I did not commit them."

The investigation has taken place with the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to DC, as well as a crime crackdown in the nation’s capital.

Testimony from the commanders indicated that the surge in law enforcement helped MPD in bringing down crime. When asked if it was helpful in their district, one commander said, “Yeah. I would be lying if I said it didn’t. It did. It really helped. It mainly helped my property crime numbers.”

Oversight Chairman James Comer said of the report, “Every single person who lives, works, or visits the District of Columbia deserves a safe city, yet it’s now clear the American people were deliberately kept in the dark about the true crime rates in our nation’s capital. Testimony from experienced and courageous MPD commanders has exposed the truth: Chief Pamela Smith coerced staff to report artificially low crime data and cultivated a culture of fear to achieve her agenda. Chief Smith’s decision to mislead the public by manipulating crime statistics is dangerous and undermines trust in both local leadership and law enforcement.”