WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington's inspector general's office announced on Monday that it has started an investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department’s crime data reporting system, the latest in a series of probes into how the force has collected its crime statistics.
In a letter to interim police Chief Jeffery Carroll, Inspector General Daniel Lucas said his overall objective is “to assess the design, implementation, and operation of MPD’s internal
control system for collecting, classifying and reporting crime data and statistics."
The police force's crime statistics collection has faced increasing scrutiny from authorities in recent weeks. That has come after President Donald Trump issued a monthlong emergency order last summer that federalized the police force and launched a federal law enforcement operation in the nation's capital that his Republican administration said was meant to fight crime.
A report released last month by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that then-police Chief Pamela Smith often threatened, punished and retaliated against police commanders who presented her with “spikes in crime.” The police chief in the nation’s capital pressured subordinates to manipulate department data to artificially lower the city’s crime rates, according to the a report by the Republican-led congressional committee.
A separate investigation by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office also found that a significant number of MPD reports had been misclassified to make crime rates appear lower than they are. Pirro's office began its investigation in August as Trump ordered a surge of federal law enforcement officers into the heavily Democratic city to battle what he called out of control crime. Part of that surge included an emergency order that gave the president control of the local department for 30 days.
Neither investigation found grounds for charging anybody with a crime. Pirro said at the time it was up to the MPD to take steps to address “these underlying issues.”
Throughout the emergency order and the law enforcement surge, local officials have argued that while crime has gone down during the federal operation, it was going down beforehand as well. The investigations argued that the increased presence of law enforcement and National Guard members has been even more effective and the errant crime statistics were downplaying that.
According to the MPD, there were 127 homicides in the District of Columbia last year, a 32% drop from the year before.
Smith, who has since stepped down, disputed the findings that crime statistics were manipulated during her tenure.
Carroll noted the controversy when he was named interim chief and said the department would be focusing on several steps to address the issues, including improved training for officers in classifying crimes and the creation of an audit team that would examine reports to insure they are properly classified.
The MPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
