The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has determined that Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department manipulated crime statistics but concluded the conduct does not warrant criminal charges.
Pirro’s findings follow a report by the House Oversight Committee, which accused MPD leadership of deliberately altering crime data to make public safety conditions appear better than they were. The committee’s interim report, based on interviews with eight senior MPD commanders, alleged that Police Chief Pamela Smith fostered what lawmakers described as a “toxic management culture” and oversaw the manipulation of crime statistics. Smith announced last week that she would resign effective December 31.
In a statement released Monday, Pirro said her office launched its own investigation into what it described as the department’s “deflation” of crime data. The review included nearly 6,000 police reports and interviews with more than 50 witnesses.
“After a thorough review, it is evident that a significant number of reports were misclassified, making crime appear artificially lower than it actually was,” Pirro said.
The findings show that crime in the nation’s capital had been higher than publicly reported. Pirro linked this to President Donald Trump’s law-and-order policies, stating: “The uncovering of these manipulated crime statistics makes clear that President Trump has reduced crime even more than originally thought.” She added: “Because crimes were actually higher than reported, his crime-fighting efforts have delivered even greater safety to the people of the District.”
Despite the scope of the misreporting, Pirro said her office determined the conduct does not rise to the level of a criminal charge. “The conduct here does not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense,” she said, adding that responsibility now falls to department leaders.
