D.C. police chief bullied staff, threatened demotions in order to manipulate crime data, report says

House Republicans on Sunday released a report skewering Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith for bullying her command staff and threatening them with demotions so they would manipulate crime data to make the District appear safer than it is.

The 22-page report from the House Oversight Committee accused Chief Smith of being more concerned about the public-facing daily updates to crime statistics than she was about working to tackle crime trends in the city’s seven police districts.

House Republicans spoke with the respective commanders of each of those districts, plus another commander who has been suspended, who said the top cop was fixated on giving residents “the perception of low crime in the District.” 

“Chief Smith, the commanders testified, was so preoccupied with the statistics of the select crimes that were made public that she incentivized her subordinates to lower those crimes by whatever means necessary,” the report said.

The report said that often involved commanders downgrading an offense from one of the nine violent and property crimes presented on the daily crime updates to “intermediate,” or lesser offenses, that would not be shared publicly.

Allegations that Metropolitan Police had been fudging their crime numbers were part of President Trump’s motivation for his summertime crackdown in the nation’s capital. The House Oversight Committee launched its probe into the District’s crime data in August.

He frequently referenced a WRC-TV report that Commander Michael Pulliam had been suspended after he was accused of altering crime statistics to make violence look less frequent. 

Cmdr. Pulliam remains on administrative leave as MPD investigates the allegations. It is unclear if he was the suspended commander interviewed by Capitol Hill lawmakers.  

Chief Smith announced her resignation last week, saying that it was a personal decision she made with her family to leave the role. Her last day will be Dec. 31.

Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, called on Chief Smith to resign immediately after the investigation found she “coerced staff to report artificially low crime data and cultivated a culture of fear to achieve her agenda.”

“Chief Smith’s decision to mislead the public by manipulating crime statistics is dangerous and undermines trust in both local leadership and law enforcement,” Mr. Comer said. “Her planned resignation at the end of the month should not be seen as a voluntary choice, but as an inevitable consequence that should have occurred much earlier.”

The report addressed how Chief Smith humiliated commanders whose districts saw crime spikes.

Chief Smith lambasted one commander in front of police brass after a weekend robbery spree erupted in their part of the city. The commander was threatened with a demotion if they did not prevent another spree from happening.

Metropolitan Police’s top official also demoted people for asking the chief to revisit strategies, according to the report.

One commander said Assistant Chief Darnel Robinson was moved out of a former position for posing “legitimate questions or suggestions that was [sic] seen as disloyal.”

“The chief has removed people who would speak try to advise her on things that she didn’t want to hear from her inner circle,” the commander, who wasn’t identified, said in the report. “She very much has an enabling, like, echo chamber around her now, which is out of touch with the reality of the agency and what the experience of our personnel and our officers and sergeants and managers at all levels are experiencing.”