Mayor Muriel Bowser has tapped Jeffery Carroll to serve as interim chief of the D.C. police department following Pamela Smith’s resignation.
“I know that he is the right person to build on the momentum of the past two years so that we will continue to drive down crime in the city,” Bowser said during a Wednesday news conference.
Bowser said Carroll will take over the position temporarily from Chief Smith after she steps down. Smith announced her resignation days before the House Oversight Committee released a report accusing the chief of manipulating crime data to “maintain the appearance of low crime.”
Carroll is the executive assistant chief of specialized operations. He has served on the D.C. police force for more than two decades, according to his biography on the department’s website.
“I don’t take this responsibility lightly,” Carroll said of the mayor’s appointment. “Your confidence in me is both humbling and motivating, as I’m committed to leading this department, integrity, transparency and a strong sense of duty to people that we serve.”
Carroll addresses House report alleging crime data manipulation
Smith announced last week she would be stepping down as police chief on Dec. 31 after two years on the job, calling it “a personal decision for myself and for my family.”
The interim report released by the House Oversight Committee Sunday alleged Smith incentivized commanders to lower the status of crimes so they wouldn’t be documented in the department’s public database.
“We have some information that’s in those reports, but we don’t know all the details of what’s in there,” Carroll said. “But with that, obviously, we don’t want to wait until the full reports are out. We know there’s some concerns related to the data.”
Carroll said the department plans to address those concerns by improving training for officers on how to classify crimes and “tightening up the internal policy” on when crime classifications can be changed.
On the tech side, he said if a change is made to classification, it will need to be reviewed and approved.
“The ability to make changes in the system with alerts to members that reports have been changed,” Carroll said. “As well as the requirement for additional review and approval if a change is made to the report.”
The department is also considering having a dedicated auditing team look over the reports, Carroll said.
Bowser slammed the report Monday and accused the committee of rushing to release the findings to meet a “political motivated timeline.”
The investigation into the crime data continues and the report released over the weekend is described as “interim.” The committee said it was releasing the findings to “add context” to Smith’s decision to resign.
“Rather than letting the investigation proceed and risk losing the opportunity for attention grabbing headlines if it were released after Chief Smith’s retirement after nearly three decades of law enforcement service, the Committee stooped to ad hominem attacks using cherry-picked quotes without providing additional relevant context,” Bowser wrote in a letter sent Monday to the committee.
D.C. was in the midst of a crime surge following the pandemic when Smith first became chief in 2023. The city’s data has shown a drastic drop in violent crimes, an achievement Bowser and other leaders have credited to investments in the police department, high-visibility patrols and getting guns off D.C. streets.
Her tenure as chief overlapped with a federal law enforcement surge in the District, prompted by President Donald Trump. In August, the president deployed the National Guard to the District and federalized the D.C. police force in an effort to reduce crime.
Months later, those Guard members remain in the District and community members have voiced concerns about interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“We don’t want anyone to feel scared or fearful, to contact the police,” Carroll said, when asked about fears in the Hispanic community. “I urge them to continue to reach out to us, to work with us. I know there’s been a lot of things said in the media publicly about immigration enforcement. MPD is here to work with the community to keep us all safe.”
Carroll has been credited with strengthening relationships between D.C. police and its federal law enforcement partners.
“Our relationship has changed under a new federal task force,” Carroll said. “With that, we continue to work together, making sure that we’re strengthening that.”
That means relaying to federal partners “the priorities of the city” and making sure they “understand our community,” he said.
Picking an interim chief
Smith appointed Carroll as executive assistant chief of specialized operations in November 2023, according to his biography on the department’s website.
In his role of executive assistant chief, Carroll manages operations at the department’s bureaus of homeland security, investigative services, internal affairs, technical services and professional development.
He served as an incident commander for D.C. police during the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, and oversaw operations for the World Series and Stanley Cup.
When selecting an interim chief, Bowser said she only had internal conversations with D.C. police officials.
“I think he has had the opportunity to serve a breadth of leadership roles at MPD and including, most recently as executive assistant chief,” Bowser said while addressing reporters. “He’s very familiar with you guys, with community, with the council, with partners.”
Bowser has the power to appoint an interim chief. But whoever takes over the role permanently will first need to earn the approval of the D.C. Council.
When he was asked about whether he’d want to run the department permanently, Carroll replied, “My goal is to move the department forward to make sure that we’re driving down crime, to make sure we’re keeping the residents safe, to make sure we’re meeting all the goals and expectations of the community. So may it be for a year, may it be nominated by another mayor, whatever it may be.”
In the past, Bowser has propped up her picks for interim police chief to take the job full time. But her decision to not run for reelection could change her approach this time around.
“I’m mayor, as long as I’m mayor, and I have all the powers that attach to that, including appointments,” Bowser said. “I am also a person who served on the council, who became mayor and recognize that mayors like to appoint a police chief.”
That’s a conversation Bowser said she’s already had with Carroll, who still eagerly accepted the appointment.
“He recognizes that we have some options for him serving as interim or a conversation that we all have with the council about how they would handle an appointment,” she said.
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