|
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) launched an investigation to uncover the truth behind alarming allegations that the leadership of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) manipulated crime statistics to mislead the American public about the true state of affairs in our nation’s capital.
Earlier this week, in what is becoming a trend of eerily similar social media posts coming from leading voices on the political Left, progressive leaders and media pundits claimed that crime in the nation’s capital is at a 30-year low. Residents of Washington, D.C., and the surrounding suburbs, however, are all too aware of the horrific crimes that fill the headlines almost daily — affecting D.C. residents, Members of Congress, foreign embassy staffers, presidential appointees, congressional staffers, and tourists from around the world.
In what seems to be yet another instance of far-left ruling elites lying to the American people to achieve a political end — following in line with examples such as “masking kids is necessary to slow the spread of COVID,” “Joe Biden is sharp as ever,” “the border is secure,” “inflation is transitory,” and “all political violence comes from the political right,” — they have now decreed that D.C. is “safe enough.” These falsehoods erode trust and threaten the American public’s safety.
The Left pushes this narrative while entirely ignoring that in May 2025, the Washington D.C. MPD suspended Commander Michael Pulliam amid allegations that he was altering crime statistics to artificially suppress data reflecting the true state of crime in the district. And just this morning, there is further reporting that this effort goes back to at least 2020, when a D.C. Police Sergeant was allegedly retaliated against for speaking out against the policy of downgrading felonies.
Today, America First Legal stepped forward to get to the bottom of the true statistics, submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to get the true data and the communications from Commander Pulliam regarding the numbers that belie reality.
“President Trump has stepped up to make Washington D.C. safer for all residents and visitors to the nation’s capital—but the Left is lockstep in defending D.C. as ‘safe enough.’ Americans know better. As each day passes, new horrific examples of violent crime are reported across the district. AFL is investigating whether, as described by recent reports, official D.C. crime statistics may have been deliberately falsified to make the city seem safer than it is. Americans deserve a proper assessment of the danger they face each day due to the failure of soft-on-crime policies in their capital city,” said Will Scolinos, Counsel at America First Legal.
Read the FOIA request here.
Read more about our work here.
|
