DC Crime Statistics Dispute Erupts as Trump Administration Questions Data Accuracy

The Trump administration has launched serious accusations against the Washington, D.C. police department, claiming officials have been “cooking the books” and reporting “phony crime stats” amid a broader federal intervention in the city’s law enforcement operations.

The controversy emerged following the suspension of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Commander Michael Pulliam in May for allegedly altering crime statistics in his district. This incident has since been leveraged by the administration to question the validity of the city’s overall crime reporting.

According to MPD data released in August, homicides in Washington had decreased by 32% from 2023 to 2024, with violent crime overall down 35% – reportedly reaching its lowest level in over three decades. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia had previously reported significant declines across multiple categories, including a 39% reduction in robberies and a 53% drop in armed carjackings.

President Trump, however, contested these figures when declaring a “crime emergency” in Washington on August 11, incorrectly claiming that “murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever” in the city. Historical data shows the peak murder rate actually occurred in 1991.

The dispute intensified when the New York Times reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington had opened an investigation into whether city police officials falsified crime data. This investigation is being conducted under Jeanine Pirro, the former judge and Fox News host who was appointed as interim U.S. attorney for the district in May.

Gregg Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. police union, has alleged that department supervisors routinely direct officers to downgrade crime classifications, recording felonies as lesser offenses to artificially reduce violent crime statistics. This claim echoes a lawsuit filed in 2020 by former police sergeant Charlotte Djossou, who alleged that MPD leaders were “misclassifying offenses” to deflate crime figures. That lawsuit was settled out of court earlier this month.

In response to the allegations concerning Commander Pulliam, Police Chief Pamela Smith stated, “I do not condone any official reclassifying criminal offenses outside the guidelines set in MPD policy.” Mayor Muriel Bowser has downplayed the investigation, saying they “don’t believe it implicates many cases.”

Independent crime data analysts offer a more nuanced perspective on the reliability of Washington’s statistics. Jeff Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics, told reporters that murder statistics in particular are “very reliable,” noting that “DC’s publicly available murder statistics match up nearly identically with what is being reported to the FBI.”

However, Asher acknowledged potential issues with broader crime reporting, suggesting that public data might be “overstating a decline” in crime. Still, he expressed skepticism that a single district commander could be responsible for widespread underreporting across the city.

The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), an independent think tank, confirmed in its August report a “large drop in reported violence in the District since the summer of 2023,” noting this trend aligns with similar declines in other major U.S. cities. The organization employs multiple verification methods when analyzing crime data, including cross-referencing local police figures with FBI statistics.

Ernesto Lopez, a senior research specialist at the CCJ, cautioned that political motivations can influence crime reporting in either direction. “While local leaders may attempt to present crime as less serious, the opposite can also be true. Crime can be used as a tool to promote a tough-on-crime political agenda,” he explained.

As the investigation continues, the dispute highlights the complex intersection of crime statistics, political rhetoric, and public policy in the nation’s capital.