The Justice Department is investigating whether Washington, D.C., police deliberately cooked the books to make the city’s crime problem look less severe than it really is, two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro is running the investigation, and unlike swamp insiders, she has no problem taking on corruption wherever it festers.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police Department suspended Commander Michael Pulliam and placed him on leave after launching an internal investigation into whether he manipulated crime data. However, this new investigation will dig much deeper.
The Washington Post has more.
The federal probe is expected to go beyond investigating Pulliam and examine actions of other local officials, according to the people familiar, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and local officials have touted a drop in violent crime after a prolonged spike during and after the pandemic. According to local police data, violent crime is down 27 percent over this time last year, with homicides down 11 percent.
“We are not experiencing a spike in crime,” Bowser said on MSNBC this month. “In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.”
But Trump and federal officials have said that D.C. crime is an at all-time high and the federal takeover of the police force is needed to make the city safer. D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton, who has publicly said he supports the federal takeover of the local police force, said he doubts that crime is as low as the mayor has touted.
“There’s a, potentially, a drop from where we were in 2023,” Pemberton told NBC4. “I think that there’s a possibility that crime has come down. But the department is reporting that in 2024, crime went down 35% — violent crime — and another 25% through August of this year. That is preposterous. … We’re out on the street. We know the calls we’re responding to.”
“D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety. This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!” Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday. “Until 4 days ago, Washington, D.C., was the most unsafe ‘city’ in the United States, and perhaps the World. Now, in just a short period of time, it is perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour! People are flocking to D.C. again, and soon, the beautification will begin!”
“The DC Police Union, representing over 3,000 officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), today acknowledges and supports the President’s announcement this morning to assume temporary control of the MPD in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, DC,” the union said in a statement. “The Union agrees that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety. However, we emphasize that federal intervention must be a temporary measure, with the ultimate goal of empowering a fully staffed and supported MPD to protect our city effectively.”
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