The Metropolitan Police Department is embroiled in controversy over allegations related to its reported crime statistics.
The Washington, D.C., department placed Police Commander Michael Pulliam on paid administrative leave in May after a police union accused the MPD of deliberately manipulating crime data, several law enforcement sources told WRC-TV.
‘This is deliberately done.’
Pulliam, who is under investigation, denied the allegations.
Gregg Pemberton, the chairman of the D.C. Police Union, a branch of the Fraternal Order of Police, explained to WRC how the statistics are manipulated to make it appear that crime has declined. The union also warned about a larger trend of supervisors instructing employees to engage in such practices.
“When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” Pemberton said. “So instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification.”
Pemberton stated that crimes that should be reported as involving a suspect armed with a dangerous weapon have instead been documented as felony assaults.
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Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
“When management officials are directing officers to take reports for felony assault, or if they’re going back into police databases and changing offenses to felony assault, felony assault is not a category of crime that’s listed on the department’s daily crime stats,” he continued. “It’s also not something that’s a requirement of the FBI’s uniform crime reporting program. So by changing criminal offenses from, for example, ADW bat or ADW gun to felony assault, that would avoid both the MPD and the FBI from reporting that as a part one or a felony offense.”
Pemberton claimed that union members had reported that the directive came from command staff who want to ensure that the “classifications of these reports are adjusted over time to make sure that the overall crime stats stay down.”
“This is deliberately done,” he told WRC.
Pemberton called the MPD’s reported severe drop in crime “preposterous,” adding that there is “absolutely no way.”
“Last year they suggested that it went down 34%,” he said.
As of Thursday morning, the department’s crime data stated that violent offenses are down 26% when compared to the same time last year. A breakdown of those violent offenses included a 47% decline in sexual abuse and a 28% decline in robberies.
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Chief Pamela Smith told WRC that the department cannot comment on an ongoing investigation; however, she did address the union’s allegations.
“The Metropolitan Police Department is committed to upholding the trust and the confidence of the public,” Smith said. “Any irregularity in crime data brought to my attention will be addressed immediately. I do not condone any official reclassifying criminal offenses outside the guidelines set in MPD policy. Any allegation of this behavior will be dealt with through our internal processes, which will ensure those members are held accountable. I have the utmost confidence in the command staff leadership currently in place across the Metropolitan Police Department.”
The union’s allegations follow comments earlier this month from President Donald Trump, who stated that he was considering having his administration run Washington, D.C., due to the local leadership’s inability to significantly reduce crime.
“We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” Trump stated. “We could run D.C.”
He noted that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is “working very closely” with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to reduce crime.
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