By Gary Fields
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s crime statistics collection experienced a “prolonged, systemic breakdown of its internal control system,” according to a report released Tuesday by the city’s inspector general, which reviewed the department’s process after accusations by the federal government that figures were manipulated.
The investigation, requested in December by Mayor Muriel Bowser, reviewed MPD crime data from 2015 through 2025. While the report did not indicate any fraud or intentionality in the flaws in the crime stats collection, it recommended a series of steps meant to ensure accuracy in the data gathering going forward.
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“We found that MPD’s crime reporting controls broke down significantly during the period we examined,” it said.
The police force’s crime statistics collection faced increasing scrutiny after President Donald Trump issued a monthlong emergency order last summer that federalized the police force and launched a law enforcement operation in the nation’s capital.
Local officials maintained that crime was already dropping when Trump took the action. Critics said the problematic statistics erroneously downplayed the true impact of Trump’s initiative.
The report made five recommendations to the department, including establishing a permanent, independent crime report review function with personnel who are appropriately trained with the authority to return reports to officers for correction.
It highlighted the 2013 dissolution of an independent unit that reviewed the statistics gathering process, which the report said led to crime classification errors and meant that incomplete explanations could pass through the approval process, uncorrected.
“Crime data is the informational foundation on which MPD makes operational decisions, the District allocates resources, and the public evaluates the safety of its community,” the report concluded. When that data is unreliable “the consequences extend beyond inaccurate statistics.”
The report did not weigh in more broadly on Trump’s law enforcement efforts in Washington.
The report noted that in recent months the department has taken steps to address concerns in crime classification and reporting.
An emailed response from MPD said a number of steps the department is taking, including increased training, as well as the creation of the Data Quality and Compliance Branch to “enforce objective reporting, and conduct systematic reviews of police reports.”
A House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform accused Washington’s former police chief of pressuring subordinates to manipulate department data to artificially lower the city’s crime rates.
A separate investigation by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office also found that a significant number of MPD reports had been misclassified to make crime rates appear lower than they are.
Neither investigation found grounds for charging anybody with a crime.
In May, Washington interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll announced that 13 officers had been placed on administrative leave in connection with an internal investigation into how the department keeps crime statistics.
Eleven are still on administrative leave and two have “separated from services,” the department said in an email.
