D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith has been accused of manipulating crime data to “maintain the appearance of low crime” in a new report released Sunday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The interim staff report came from transcribed interviews with the commanders of all seven D.C. patrol districts, as well as one former commander currently placed on suspended leave, according to a news release.
The report alleges Smith “punished and removed officers for reporting accurate crime numbers and fostered a toxic culture.”
Smith recently announced she is stepping down at the end of the month after two years leading the department.
The committee claimed that during President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. law enforcement, they received reports of police leadership “deliberately lowering crime statistics.”
In response the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Republican James Comer, launched an investigation in August of this year.
Alleged manipulation of DC’s daily crime report
In the report, commanders said Smith hyper fixated on D.C.’s daily crime report, a public database, and incentivized them to lower the status of crimes so they wouldn’t be publicly documented.
The D.C. Council created new categories of criminal offenses in 2024 with the passage of the Secure D.C. bill. This anti-crime legislation made what the committee report called, “intermediate offenses,” like endangerment with a firearm or simple assault.
According to the report, intermediate crimes fall between a serious and minor offense.
The investigation claimed that intermediate offenses are not publicly recorded.
Commanders asserted in the report that Smith abused these new offense categories, often relabeling a crime to fit under an intermediate offense, instead of a serious one.
Commander A, all identities of commanders were hidden and labeled through an alphabetical system, recounted an instance when one of Smith’s executive assistants’ chiefs ordered them to change the classification of a crime.
“He called about an assault with a dangerous weapon, for a shooting where nobody was hit,” said Commander A in the report. “He said, ‘Well it sounds like you have an endangerment with a firearm.’ And I said, ‘Well, are you asking me or telling me?'”
Commander A claimed in the report that, they were instructed to change the classification to endangerment with a firearm, this made the data hidden from the public.
The commanders interviewed in the report, all of which have 16 to 27 years of policing experience, said the departments focus on crime data was a new standard put in place by Smith.
The documents allege that Smith’s rigorous approval process of crime data reports distracted from investigating and fighting actual crime.
Crime data meetings were ‘an atonement for our sins’
Commanders were required to attend several crime data reporting meetings a week, where in the report they claim to have been, “humiliated publicly” by Smith and her executive assistant chiefs.
In the documents, commanders described being berated so much so that they left the meetings feeling like they were at fault for crime in their districts.
“I did feel like I did the robberies after I left,” Commander E told investigators. “I literally was, like, I swear I did not commit them.”
At one point, Commander B, claimed that Smith said she would rather a commander, “make something up,” than say they don’t have an excuse or answer to her questions.
Smith was accused in the report of creating an “echo-chamber” and if officers disagreed with her or seemed disloyal, they were reassigned.
“Commanders frequently feared for their jobs when having to brief Chief Smith on a rise in crime,” said the documents.
Commanders concluded that officers have left the force because of the “toxic” environment Smith created. One commander, in the report, said they were considering leaving the force earlier than expected because Smith’s leadership.
Local and national leaders’ responses
Mayor Muriel Bowser told WTOP she’s grateful to Smith and her commitment to safety.
“The men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department run towards danger every day to reduce homicides, carjackings, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and more,” Bowser said. “The precipitous decline in crime in our city is attributable to their hard work and dedication and Chief Smith’s leadership.”
The report also included a statement from Comer who launched the investigation.
“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, said Comer. “Her planned resignation at the end of the month should not be seen as a voluntary choice, but as an inevitable consequence that should have occurred much earlier. Chief Smith should resign today.”
Smith’s resignation and response
Smith was nominated to the head post in 2023 and was the second woman and first Black woman to serve as chief.
She announced last week that she would be stepping down to spend more time with her family.
“We’ve had some high points, that we’ve had some low points, but respectfully, right now, this is a personal decision for myself and for my family,” Smith said.
Shortly after her retirement announcement, questioned were raised about the in light of the House committee’s investigation. However, Smith has said the report did not play a role in her decision
Smith said the investigation didn’t play a role in her decision.
The House of Oversight Committee stated in Sunday’s report that they published the initial findings of their investigation because of Smith’s resignation.
“The Committee is releasing this interim report in light of Chief Smith’s resignation to add
context to this decision, to protect witnesses from retaliation, and to inform both District
residents and the American public at large,” documents said.
The Department of Justice, according to the Washington Post, has also concluded its investigation into manipulated D.C. crime data and could release its findings as early as Monday.
WTOP has reached out to D.C. Police for comment.
Read the full House of Oversight Committee report here.
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