Overview
- An interim report released Sunday cites transcribed interviews with commanders from all seven MPD patrol districts and one suspended former commander.
- Commanders said Chief Pamela A. Smith required review of offenses that would appear in the Daily Crime Report and pushed downgrades to lesser, non‑public “intermediate” charges.
- Examples included reducing assault with a dangerous weapon to endangerment with a firearm and reclassifying burglaries as unlawful entries, practices the report says distorted public crime data.
- The report describes a culture of fear, public beratement, and retaliatory transfers or demotions for reporting rising crime, which commanders said damaged morale and retention.
- Smith announced her resignation on December 8 effective December 31 and has denied authorizing manipulation, Mayor Muriel Bowser defended the department’s reported crime declines, and the committee plans further document review as DOJ pursues a separate inquiry that a reported draft says found MPD statistics likely unreliable.