Washington Times Weekly: Another police chief hits the road in the District

Hi, I’m George Gerbo and welcome to Washington Times Weekly, where we get a chance to sit down with our reporters and talk about their coverage of the latest news and events. 

And joining me once again is crime and local reporter Matt Delaney. 

[GERBO] D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith has announced she’s going to resign her post. Accusations that she’s pressured staff, subordinates to alter crime statistics to make them seem more favorable to the city. Mayor Muriel Bowser has denied that. You’ve covered this issue extensively, and it’s been a big topic over the last year, where does the truth lie in terms of how safe D.C. is. But Smith now appears to be just another in a line of a lot of recent D.C. police chiefs that for one reason or another, have stepped back from the job amidst different types of pressure. 

[DELANEY] Never a dull moment around here, right? So the chief cited personal reasons about why she wanted to leave. Of course, the House had been investigating since summertime this alleged manipulation of crime statistics. They dropped the report in light of her resignation and Representative James Comer, the House Oversight Committee’s chairman, calls on her to resign immediately. And as you mentioned as well, Mayor Bowser said, this is a politically convenient timeline for you. They’re trying to get their digs in right before she’s out the door to score points, I guess, with their constituents, that they’re doing something. So it’s, as it relates to the District itself, we have to wait until the investigation plays out.

I can tell you as a resident of the District, it feels safer than it did two years ago. But my perceptions aren’t reality. I’m very curious to see what happens with this House report, when the full report comes out. And I believe D.C. is doing its own Inspector General report as well, into the allegations. Because if it’s true, that they are fudging the numbers on this, that’s a humongous scandal. I don’t think I need to belabor that point, but we rely on those statistics. Specifically in the report, she talks about there’s nine offenses — I think it’s like five felony and four property crime offenses — that are updated daily and that’s what the public uses as their frame of reference to see what it’s like in the city. If offenses that fit those categories were being downgraded to kind of you know basically sweep them under the rug, yeah that’s a big problem.

[GERBO] Like you say, perception, not reality sometimes. What people are experiencing, the big push over the summer, and from one thing leading to another, National Guard showing up, the increased other additional law enforcement members that came in and were in the District over the summertime did seem to make a noticeable difference during the time period. But now here in the end of the year, the National Guard detail currently scheduled to run through the end of February 28th but may or may not be extended. We’ll figure out how that looks in the coming year and what the president decides he wants to do. So there’s a federal component to this as well, not just the local component, of having a police chief and that person being responsible for the city’s policing.

[DELANEY] Right. And I think it’s important to note, too, a lot of people think that Trump sees D.C. as his playground. It’s a unique situation because it’s a federal city, the White House has a lot of sway in how things are run in D.C. So, he’s using this in a way as a prototype for the kind of America I think he wants to put forward for his vision. 

Watch the video to see the full conversation, including plans for a Maryland reparations commission, replacing the Chesapeake Bay bridge and more.

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