DC council chairman wilts under questioning from Jim Jordan for allegedly ‘cooking the books’ on crime stats

Washington, D.C., Council Chair Phil Mendelson struggled to answer House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan’s questions on alleged crime statistics manipulation during a Thursday hearing.

Washington, D.C., settled out of court in August with former Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Sergeant Charlotte Djossou, who alleged the department’s leadership deliberately under-counted crimes, with documents in the case appearing to validate the former officer’s claims, The Washington Free Beacon reported. During a House Oversight Committee hearing on crime in the district, Jordan asked Mendelson if he was “cooking the books” and particularly asked him about a category called “taking property without right.”

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

Jordan asked about the settlement, but Mendelson said he could not discuss the case. He noted former MPD lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky was accused of using the category “taking property without right” to lower 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.

“As I said, there are two investigations. I know there’s one internal in the Metropolitan Police Department,” Mendelson said. “I know that there’s an investigation by this committee.”

Jordan asked what “taking property without right” means. Mendelson said it meant “theft.”

Jordan asked why the city does not consider it “theft” then. Mendelson repeated that he could not discuss the case, leading Jordan to repeat his question on what “taking property without right” means.

“You have a classification for crime called taking property without right,” Jordan said. “What does that mean? What does that mean?

“It means just what it said if that’s what the crime is,” Mendelson replied.

Trump deployed the National Guard and took other measures to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital in August, with violent crimes dropping significantly.

Jordan asked what “a normal person” would consider the classification to mean, but Mendelson appeared to struggle to answer.

“Are we talking about what the criminal code and the specific category?” Mendelson asked.

“No, I’m just talking about that statement that you have that’s grown 500% in the last several years, that specific category of crime,” Jordan said. “I’m just wondering what does that exactly mean?”

Mendelson suddenly pivoted to claim that gunshots have decreased in the district.

“Taking property without right was the question,” Jordan responded. “What does that mean?”

Mendelson asserted he had answered the question. Jordan asked what he had said.

“I’ve said that if you’re speaking to a particular offense in our criminal code, I cannot speak to that particular offense,” Mendelson said.

“Why not just call it stealing? 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,” Jordan said. “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 claimed he was not “familiar” with the category.

Djossou sued the district in 2020 alleging the MPD deliberately downgraded felonies like theft and assault with a deadly weapon to misdemeanors to exclude them from official crime data, while allegedly retaliating against her for speaking out, according to various records and documents obtained by the Free Beacon.

Zabavsky is currently serving a four-year sentence for covering up a murder. He admitted in court that the reclassification was done to obfuscate the crimes from publicly reported data.

Washington Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton said on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum” in August that officers were told to not report certain 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. “One of the things that we see them do often is sometimes there will be a shooting or a stabbing and if the victim is uncooperative with the police which is not uncommon in some areas of the city, they will be directed to take an injured person to the hospital report which is not even a crime at all but an incident report, sometimes you will have a robbery reported as a theft and other times you will have burglaries reported as unlawful entry or thefts.”

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