In Washington, D.C., where crime statistics have become both a political talking point and a public concern, the Metropolitan Police Department is now facing a credibility problem from inside its own ranks.
Commander Michael Pulliam — who oversaw the 3rd District, covering the busy Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights neighborhoods — was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May after allegations surfaced that he had falsified crime data.
According to five law enforcement sources who spoke with NBC 4, Pulliam is under investigation for “questionable changes” to official crime reports. The city’s police union says this isn’t an isolated issue. They allege a wider pattern in which department supervisors direct officers to downgrade serious incidents — such as shootings, stabbings, and carjackings — into less severe classifications like “theft,” “injured person to the hospital,” or “felony assault.”
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When President Trump floated the idea of seizing federal control over Washington D.C. to stop crime, the press raced to point out that “crime is falling.” Residents report… pic.twitter.com/jD1iPabs48
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That last category, “felony assault,” has a bureaucratic advantage: it doesn’t appear in MPD’s daily public crime stats and isn’t part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting requirements for major offenses. Gregg Pemberton, chair of the Fraternal Order of Police, says this reclassification process is deliberate and directive, designed to keep the numbers for violent crime artificially low.
Pemberton was blunt about the data being touted by the department — a claimed 28% drop in violent crime in mid-July, which now stands at 26% compared to 2024. “That’s preposterous,” he told NBC 4. “There’s absolutely no way crime could be down 28%. Last year they suggested that it went down 34%.”
Police Chief Pamela Smith has rejected the suggestion of a sanctioned cover-up, saying that any irregularities reported to her will be “addressed immediately” and that she “does not condone any official reclassifying criminal offenses outside the guidelines set in MPD policy.” She emphasized her confidence in the department’s leadership and the internal processes in place to hold violators accountable.
Pulliam’s administrative leave also came just a week after he filed a complaint against Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright. The complaint followed a personal episode involving Pulliam’s wife, Capt. Rachel Pulliam, who was reassigned from the Youth Division to midnight shifts in the 7th District.
According to three sources, Wright ordered Commander Pulliam to pack up his wife’s belongings and personally deliver them to her new assignment — a move he reportedly viewed as humiliating.
