The full report on the District’s Metropolitan Police Department crime data manipulation scheme shows that the department’s higher-ups reclassified hundreds of crimes as lesser offenses, as multiple police leaders pointed to a “culture of fear” created by Chief Pamela A. Smith that motivated some officials to fix the numbers.
The 554-page internal report said crimes such as theft, burglary and assault with a dangerous weapon were recategorized at times across the city’s seven police districts, with some officials altering reports for dozens of crimes while others did so hundreds of times.
Federal prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges over the altered statistics, but 13 members of the Metropolitan Police brass face potential termination after they were implicated in the report.
That includes former Assistant Chief LaShay Makal and former 2nd District Cmdr. Tatjana Savoy. A total of 19 officers were linked to the department’s crime data misconduct, though not all face termination.
The investigation found that former 3rd District Cmdr. Michael Pulliam, whose suspension a year ago prompted the internal probe and inspired President Trump’s federal law enforcement surge, reclassified 157 offenses during his time.
Mr. Pulliam said he changed the classifications for accuracy purposes, according to the report, but Capt. George Donigian admitted to investigators that he improperly labeled crimes as less severe because of the “extreme pressure and maltreatment from command staff” at crime briefings.
The investigators said Capt. Donigian downgraded 360 theft reports to “taking property without right,” a lower offense not listed on the publicly viewable daily crime report.
Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to comment on the specifics of the police department’s report, but she said her administration will look at the “systematic problems that, in my estimation, should have caught any individual problems.”
The mayor said she awaits the report from the Office of the D.C. Inspector General, which is expected to be released in the coming days.
Chief Smith did not speak with investigators, the report said. She resigned in December.
During her farewell speech, Chief Smith blasted Republicans on Capitol Hill after the lawmakers accused her of bullying police leadership into fabricating crime statistics.
“Let’s be really clear about one thing: Never would I, never will I ever compromise my integrity for a few crime numbers,” Chief Smith said at the time. “Never would I compromise 28 years in law enforcement for a few folk who couldn’t stand to be held accountable. And if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it again.”
Several police officials noted that Chief Smith’s tendency to dress down subordinates during briefings and to make snap decisions about demoting officers likely contributed to the willingness to manipulate numbers.
Although the report did not accuse her of directing officials to lower the numbers to protect the department’s image, police leaders said her abrasive leadership style often intimidated officers into telling her what she wanted to hear.
Capt. Paul Hrebenak told investigators that he attended crime briefings under past Chiefs Peter Newsham and Robert Contee and found both to be constructive and solution-oriented. Capt. Hrebenak said Chief Smith possessed a “desire to punish people if something upset her.”
“There has been a visible shift in how crime statistics are viewed under Smith. Under Smith, heavy emphasis is placed on numbers,” the report said, citing an interview with Capt. Hrebenak. “Hrebenak feels this creates a coercive culture of fear for the patrol officials who are held personally responsible for crime. Hrebenak feels being a patrol district Commander is not worth the money.”
The report said the 2nd District, which encompasses areas such as the White House, Dupont Circle and Embassy Row in Northwest, classified a disproportionate number of reports as taking property with right compared with other districts.
Close behind the 2nd District for reclassified theft offenses was the 5th District, which includes neighborhoods such as Trinidad, Ivy City and Brentwood.
Investigators said the 7th District, east of the Anacostia River in one of the city’s more historically crime-ridden parts of town, frequently misclassifies serious crimes such as burglary and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Assistant Chief Makal, who was placed on leave, served as the 7th District commander before she was promoted to assistant chief.
Lt. Matthew Mahl told investigators it was an “absolute nightmare” to work under Assistant Chief Makal in the district because she questioned officers about how they recorded major crimes.
“Everyone knew that 7D was ’cooking the books’ by knocking Part One Daily Crime Report offenses down to non-Part One offenses,” the report said, citing an interview with Lt. Mahl. “7D’s crime reduction was due to 7D downgrading offenses under Makal.”
Lt. Mahl described Assistant Chief Makal as a favorite of Chief Smith.
The report’s findings align with Mr. Trump’s suspicion last summer that the police had not been transparent about the District’s sharp decline in crime after the city was besieged by a generational crime wave of killings, carjackings and robberies in 2023.
He regularly cited Mr. Pulliam’s suspension over allegations of manipulating crime data as justification for deploying the National Guard and ordering federal agents to join the D.C. police on patrols throughout the nation’s capital.
Ms. Bowser and other city leaders acknowledged that the federal crackdown did reduce crime but said it only accelerated a downward trend set into motion by local efforts.
As lawmakers on Capitol Hill put forward several bills to override D.C. laws on bail policy, punishment for juveniles and police procedures, the Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee opened its own investigation into the source of the altered crime reports.
The committee’s report, released in December, blamed Chief Smith for bullying police brass and threatening to demote them, which is why officers would consider fabricating crime statistics.
Police data shows a 6% decrease in D.C. crime overall this year, with killings down 36%, carjackings down 60% and robberies down 26%.
Metropolitan Police Department records show assaults with a dangerous weapon are up 37%.
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