Crime reporting oversight at D.C.’s police department experienced a “prolonged, systemic breakdown” over the past decade as the department operated with outdated policies and failed to properly review its crime reports for accuracy, the city’s inspector general found in an investigation released Tuesday.
The inspector general’s report adds to a growing number of probes into crime statistics and reporting at the department, including an internal investigation that resulted in the proposed firing of 13 top police officials and investigations by the Department of Justice and Congress that heaped scrutiny on D.C. police leadership.
In addition to roiling the department for the past year, the inquiries have placed the city in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, which has been eager to flex its authority over the nation’s capital. Last year, when President Donald Trump took the unprecedented step of seizing temporary control of the city police department despite a precipitous drop in violence, he justified the move by alleging that police officials had manipulated crime statistics to make the city appear safer than it actually was.