When Trump federalized Washington, D.C., the topic of the day focused on the crime data he used versus what local politicians in the capital city were touting.
Trump was wrong for using 2023 stats to justify his actions, and I have called him out on this before. However, Mayor Muriel Bowser and other Democrats were just as wrong for misrepresenting current crime data.
Now, however, reports are surfacing that the data itself was manipulated, and the GOP plans to investigate.
According to stats released on D.C. crime, violent offenses are down 35% compared to 2023 numbers, which set records in numerous categories.
Homicides reportedly dropped by 32%, down from 274 murders to 187 murders during that period.
Carjackings and property crime also reportedly fell significantly from 2023 to 2024.
Now, I don’t want to downplay the efforts being made, but even if those numbers are correct, those numbers are still astronomically high compared to, say, 2010 numbers, when there were “only” 131 murders in D.C. Being on the right track is far from truly eliminating the problem, so clearly, the capital city still has a major crime issue.
As pundits went on cable news channels to try to explain the problem with how Democrats were portraying the numbers, Bowser tried to put out some fires.
She responded, “We’re going to keep doing the same things that we do,” but that was not enough for Trump.
He responded, “I’m tired of listening to these people say how safe it was before we got here.”
Trump continued, “It was unsafe. It was horrible. And Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won’t be mayor very long because we’ll take it over with the federal government, run it like it’s supposed to be run.”
I know a lot of people in law enforcement, both in federal and local agencies and departments, and I can tell you flat out that many of them have confirmed how easy it is to manipulate data, and that is the conduct of which D.C. officials now stand accused
House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) explained, “The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating disturbing allegations that DC crime data is inaccurate and intentionally manipulated, potentially at the direction of Metropolitan Police Department leadership.”
He continued, “MPD has a duty under federal and local law to accurately report crime to the public. However, in May, MPD placed Third District Commander Michael Pulliam on administrative leave following allegations that he altered crime reports.”
Comer concluded, “Unfortunately, this practice does not appear to be isolated, nor is it a recent development. MPD recently entered into a settlement agreement related to allegations that senior MPD officials were engaged in falsifying crime statistics to artificially lower reported crime rates.”
If this is true, it must be exposed, but selling the media on that fact is going to be difficult, as many outlets have already taken to accusing Trump of racism and of attempting to undermine Black mayors of our major cities. They are going to need hard data, and even then, I doubt that the mainstream media would report it without some level of bias.
