Overview
- The D.C. Office of the Inspector General released a report Tuesday that found a “prolonged, systemic breakdown” in Metropolitan Police Department controls for collecting and validating crime data from 2015 through 2025.
- The audit did not conclude there was deliberate fraud but documented specific failures: the 2013 disbanding of an independent review unit, outdated and inconsistent policies, weak access controls, and spotty audit logging that allowed untracked edits.
- Investigators said department culture discouraged alerts about problems because officers feared retaliation and had no anonymous reporting channel, and an internal investigation has proposed discipline for senior officials accused of pressuring subordinates to misclassify crimes.
- Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll accepted the report’s core findings and the MPD has started mandatory classification training and is creating a Data Quality and Compliance Branch and a Unit for Data Integrity and Analytics to review and correct reports.
- The OIG made clear reforms are needed because unreliable crime data affect patrol decisions, resource allocation and public trust, and the report’s recommendations will guide MPD changes as internal disciplinary, DOJ, U.S. attorney and congressional reviews continue.