The Justice Department is investigating whether Washington, D.C., police manipulated crime data to make rates appear lower, according to two senior law enforcement officials who confirmed the probe to NBC News.
The investigation is being overseen by the office of U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, the officials said.
NBC Washington reported last month that Metropolitan Police Department commander Michael Pulliam was suspended and placed on leave in May after the department began investigating allegations that he altered crime data. Pulliam has denied the accusations.
The current investigation is expected to extend beyond Pulliam, examining other police and city officials for possible misconduct. The potential charges remain unclear. The Washington Post first reported that the Justice Department had formally opened the inquiry.
President Donald Trump commented on the matter Monday on social media. “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!” he wrote on Truth Social. He also highlighted his decision to mobilize federal law enforcement officers and the National Guard in the city.
“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!” Trump wrote. Asked about his comments, he added, “They are giving us phony crime stats.”
Mayor Muriel Bowser has pointed to D.C. police data showing violent crime has fallen 26% compared with last year as evidence that a federal takeover of the police is unnecessary.
Gregg Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Police Union, questioned the reliability of the statistics. “I think there are some concerns about the accuracy of the numbers,” he told NBC News last week, adding that there may be a “pattern” or “practice” to reduce the reported figures.
“I think that there’s a possibility that crime has come down,” Pemberton said, “but not nearly by the amount shown in the data, which he called ‘preposterous.’ I have a real hard time believing that the numbers are down that much.”
He added, “What we know, what our members know, is that we go call to call to call out on the streets at night, going from robbery to carjacking to stabbing to shooting, and we just know that crime is ubiquitous, and it’s all in every quadrant of the city. So to have people tell us, ‘well, crime is down, you shouldn’t be worried about that,’ that’s not the reality that we feel on the streets.”
Neither the Justice Department nor the U.S. attorney’s office has commented on the investigation. The police department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
