U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Monday that a months-long federal investigation uncovered widespread misclassification of crime reports by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), making crime statistics across Washington, D.C. “artificially lower.”
Pirro said the findings were based on a review of nearly 6,000 reports and interviews with more than 50 witnesses, showing that D.C.’s crime numbers were significantly understated.
“It is evident that a significant number of reports had been misclassified, making crime appear artificially lower than it was,” Pirro said in a statement.
Pirro said MPD’s conduct “does not rise to the level of a criminal charge,” but added that it is up the department to “take steps to internally address these underlying issues.”
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Pirro’s office began investigating reports of deflated crime statistics last August, as President Donald Trump initiated a federal crime crackdown in the district.
Trump issued an executive order addressing the “epidemic of crime” in the nation’s capital and deployed federal law enforcement personnel, including the National Guard.
“The uncovering of these manipulated crime statistics makes clear that President Trump has reduced crime even more than originally thought, since crimes were actually higher than reported,” Pirro stated. “His crime fighting efforts have delivered even more safety to the people of the District.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment and further information on its investigation into the MPD.
Pirro’s statement came after the House Oversight Committee released an interim report on Sunday claiming that outgoing MPD Chief Pamela Smith, who announced her resignation on Dec. 8, oversaw an unprecedented system of intervention in crime reporting.
The Republican-led committee alleges that Smith pressured commanders to lower classifications of crime and retaliated against those who reported spikes, according to the congressional report.
MPD did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
