Overview
- Smith announced she will leave the Metropolitan Police Department on Dec. 31, confirming her departure in a statement Monday.
- Mayor Muriel Bowser praised her tenure, citing the Real-Time Crime Center, new technology deployments, and an eight-year low in homicides.
- Smith said the decision is personal and not tied to President Trump’s intervention or Bowser’s political plans, and she told FOX 5 she intends to remain in the D.C. area.
- The Justice Department and House investigators are examining whistleblower claims that supervisors manipulated crime statistics, and a district commander was placed on leave; Smith denies ordering any alteration of data.
- The resignation follows a summer in which the White House briefly installed a federal emergency police commissioner before reversing course, and the mayor’s office says an interim chief will be named soon.