In a letter sent Monday to the chair and members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser lambasted its report accusing the city’s police chief of leading a pressure campaign to alter crime data and questioned the Republican-led committee’s political motivation, methodology and timing.
The committee’s findings, released Sunday, accuse D.C. Chief of Police Pamela Smith of pressuring subordinates to change the classification of crimes, creating the illusion of a safer city.
As part of its investigation, the committee said it interviewed the commanders of all seven D.C. patrol districts, and a former commander currently placed on suspended leave. In her letter, Bowser pointed out the committee elected not to interview Smith or any of her assistant chiefs.
Bowser went on to accuse the committee of crafting a biased report based on one side of the story — the side she said the committee believed to be true before it even began its investigation.
“Even a cursory review of the report reveals its prejudice: of the 22 block quotes presented as complaining about Chief Smith’s management style, 20 of them were made by only two command officials interviewed,” Bowser wrote.
Smith is the second woman and first Black woman to serve as D.C.’s police chief. She announced Dec. 8 she’d be stepping down at the end of the month in order to spend more time with family after a nearly 30-year career in law enforcement.
The committee, in its report, states it released the partial findings after her resignation “to add context to this decision,” and says its investigation will continue. But the committee’s chair, Republican Rep. James Comer, called on her step down immediately after the report’s release.
“The interim report betrays its bias from the outset, admitting that it was rushed to release,” Bowser wrote.
“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,” she continued later in her letter.
It’s one of the stronger rebukes from Bowser toward Republicans, who’ve repeatedly targeted her city’s handling of crime and homelessness.
When President Donald Trump’s administration seized more control over D.C.’s police department and deployed National Guard Troops on city streets in August, Bowser, while critical of the approach, largely cooperated.
Since that law enforcement surge began, Trump and other members of his Republican administration have been taking credit for lowering crime in the nation’s capital, something Bowser mentioned in her letter.
“The irony of the interim report’s questioning of the Department’s crime statistics, which have been widely lauded in the last several months, is not lost on me. We know that crime had spiked in 2023 and it is undisputed that under Chief Smith’s tenure, crime has decreased significantly. This is corroborated by independent data on visits to District hospitals for firearm injuries, she wrote.”
Bowser wrote that she will hold any official accountable who does intentionally alter crime data, and that she stands ready to work with the committee to continue to reduce crime and improve public safety in D.C.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said Monday her office has been investigating D.C.’s crime data reporting since August, and that no criminal charges will be filed as a result of that investigation. However, Pirro said her probe found “a significant number of reports had been misclassified, making crime appear artificially lower than it was.”
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