Jim Jordan Grills D.C. Council Chair Over ‘Cooking the Books’ on Crime Data [WATCH]

Washington, D.C., Council Chair Phil Mendelson faced scrutiny on Thursday during a congressional hearing as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan pressed him on allegations that the city manipulated crime statistics to downplay the severity of criminal activity in the nation’s capital.

The exchange came as part of a House Oversight Committee hearing on crime in Washington, D.C.

Jordan cited the city’s recent settlement with former Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Sergeant Charlotte Djossou, who alleged that MPD leadership deliberately undercounted crimes.

Djossou filed her lawsuit in 2020, claiming that felonies such as theft and assault with a deadly weapon were reclassified as lesser offenses or misdemeanors, excluding them from official crime data.

The district settled the case in August.

Jordan asked Mendelson if the city was “cooking the books” on crime statistics.

Mendelson responded, “I think we’re not [cooking the books], but I also know that there are a couple of investigations, one, by this committee.”

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The questioning focused on a classification called “taking property without right,” which Jordan suggested was being used to reduce theft statistics.

“Sounds like you guys were cooking the books there, according to this is under oath from the deposition from this case that was just settled with the person who brought the action, a sergeant in your police department — but you’re not cooking the books?” Jordan asked.

Mendelson said he could not discuss the case but noted that former MPD Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky had been accused of using the “taking property without right” classification.

He added that the category “meant theft.” Jordan pressed him further on why the city did not classify it as “theft,” and Mendelson repeated that he could not address the case directly.

Jordan highlighted that the category had increased 500% in recent years.

“Why not just call it stealing?” Jordan asked.

“That’s what we would all. Someone comes and takes something that belongs to me, or someone comes and takes something that belongs to you, we call it stealing. Why create this new category that grows 500% that I think allows you to cook the books as the head of the FOP [Fraternal Order of Police] in your city center?”

Mendelson maintained that he was not “familiar” with the category and suggested that “gunshots have decreased in the district.”

Jordan responded, “Taking property without right was the question. What does that mean?” Mendelson said he had already answered.

The allegations of data manipulation were supported by testimony from other sources.

Zabavsky, who is serving a four-year sentence for covering up a murder, admitted in court that crimes had been reclassified to obscure them from publicly reported data.

In addition, Washington Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton told Fox News in August that officers were regularly instructed to downgrade crimes.

“Inevitably you will have a captain or a commander or sometimes a lieutenant show up on the scene and advise them to take a report for a lesser offense,” Pemberton said.

He described examples including robberies reported as thefts, burglaries reported as unlawful entry, and shootings or stabbings reported as “injured person to the hospital” incidents.

Jordan tied these practices to broader concerns about accountability in D.C. law enforcement and government oversight.

He pointed to the settlement with Djossou as evidence that the city had faced credible accusations of misreporting crime.

The hearing also took place against the backdrop of a recent federal crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and other federal resources in August to increase security in the capital, which officials said led to a significant drop in violent crime.

The issue of crime reporting accuracy remains under review, with ongoing investigations by both Congress and MPD into whether crime data was deliberately manipulated.