Congressional report alleges DC police chief manipulated crime data

Washington, D.C.’s top police official pressured commanders to lower crime classifications and retaliated against those who reported spikes, creating a widespread culture of fear and distorted public data, according to a new congressional report.

A interim report House Oversight Committee report released Sunday says outgoing Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith, who announced her resignation on December 8, oversaw an unprecedented response system in reporting crimes.

The Republican-led committee alleges that Smith, who is expected to remain on the job until the end of the year, pressured commanders on numerous occasions and sometimes asked them to downgrade offenses and avoid classifications that would appear in the city’s daily crime report.

“By pressuring his command staff to change classifications for the sole purpose of artificially reducing the number of crimes reported to the public, Chief Smith encouraged the manipulation of crime figures, which do not adequately account for crimes committed in Washington,” the report reads in part.

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Members of the FBI and Metropolitan Police conduct a traffic stop near the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, August 14, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

The findings, based on eight transcribed interviews with MPD district commanders, describe a toxic management environment in which accuracy was sacrificed for optics, and career officials were publicly shamed or demoted for presenting Smith with unfavorable crime statistics.

MPD did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the report.

“The briefings with Chief Smith involved public castigation to the extent that commanders expressed a sense of being treated as if they had committed the crimes themselves,” the report said.

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FBI and Border Patrol agents arrest a man along the U Street corridor on August 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)

“On two occasions I had…robberies, and I think I had about 13 robberies over a period of night and day,” said an MPD commander identified only as “Commander E” in the report. “And, yes, I had – usually there is, there is – an order on how you brief yourself, but at the very beginning of the crime briefing, the chief said, ‘I need to see [Commander E] first to brief first. So I went up there and was basically berated. I said to myself, “How could I let these thefts happen? » It was embarrassing, but it happened. And then there were other meetings afterward to sit down and dig deeper into what was going on. I felt like I had committed theft after I left. I was literally, like, I swear I didn’t do them.”

The committee’s investigation took place against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s federal crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital. In August, Trump issued a decree to combat the District’s “crime epidemic” and deployed federal law enforcement personnel, including the National Guard.

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Several commanders told the committee that the increase has been helpful in supplementing the department’s resources.

Members of the National Guard patrol the National Mall in Washington, DC, August 30, 2025. (Andrew Leyden/Getty)

Mayor Muriel Bowser noted last week that homicides in Washington are down 30% this year.

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Bowser told Fox News Digital in a statement: “The men and women of the Metropolitan Police run into danger every day to reduce homicides, carjackings, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and more. The precipitous decline in crime in our city is attributable to their hard work, dedication and the leadership of Chief Smith.

“I thank Chief Smith for his commitment to the safety of Washington, D.C. residents and for holding the Metropolitan Police Department to rigorous standards, and I expect no less from our next police chief,” she added.