A whistleblower has stepped forward to back long-standing claims that Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department manipulated crime statistics. The allegation lands as President Trump’s federal surge is underway and the House Oversight Committee moves to dig into what the numbers really show.

According to the whistleblower, the manipulation was “widespread,” directed by “senior MPD officials,” and may touch all seven patrol districts. That assertion echoes years of warnings from the D.C. Police Union that felony cases were being downgraded to lesser categories to project artificial progress.

Union chairman Gregg Pemberton described exactly how it happens.

“When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” he said. “So instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification,” he added.

The practice didn’t begin yesterday. An MPD sergeant, Charlotte Djossou, previously shared internal documents showing serious assaults categorized as “simple assault.” In one case, a woman’s face and neck were slashed, yet the report did not reflect a felony assault; in another, a knife held to a partner’s neck was logged as a misdemeanor. Neither case was prosecuted, according to local reports.

Djossou did not mince words about what she observed.

“It’s not OK to lie to the community about what’s going on around them,” she said. “That’s what I saw happening.”

She also explained the incentive structure that rewards rosy books.

“The commanders and the captains get promoted, and they get awards, when the crime stats are low,” she remarked.

After reporting the alleged undercounting to supervisors, Djossou filed a retaliation lawsuit that was settled recently. She noted that reporters have reached out but said she “can’t talk to them until I retire” because she is “still a sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Department.”

The union’s allegations prompted the department to place a police commander on paid administrative leave earlier this year while an internal inquiry proceeds. Meanwhile, Trump launched a federal surge on D.C. streets, citing real-world violence despite MPD’s glossy monthly tallies showing supposed declines.

House Oversight is now demanding the receipts. The Committee announced that a whistleblower has come forward and sent a document request to MPD seeking materials including the unredacted settlement agreement with Djossou, internal communications, and transcribed interviews with the commander under scrutiny and current commanders for all seven districts.

Chairman James Comer put it plainly.

“Building on President Trump’s successful efforts to restore law and order in the District of Columbia, the House Oversight Committee is carrying out its constitutional duty to oversee D.C. affairs and ensure our nation’s capital is safe for all Americans,” he told reporters.

He followed with a sharper warning.

“The Committee has obtained credible, alarming information that MPD leadership falsified crime data to deceptively show a decline in violent crime in the District. MPD has a duty under federal law to accurately report crime to the public, and the Committee is now taking action to investigate these allegations and ensure the safety of D.C. residents and visitors is never compromised,” Comer stated.

The department has declined to comment to some outlets, citing ongoing reviews. But the core issue is bigger than a single spokesperson. If felony offenses were routinely down-classified, then public policy was built on sand—and Washington families were left less safe while bureaucrats collected awards.

This scandal also exposes the contrast in approaches. Trump looked at violence on the ground and moved decisively to surge federal resources. City leaders pointed to spreadsheets. If those spreadsheets were cooked, the political story collapses, and the case for decisive law-and-order grows even stronger.

D.C. residents deserve real numbers, not massaged metrics. They deserve police leadership that tells the truth and a city government that confronts crime head-on. The Oversight probe can deliver that accountability—but only if Congress presses until every interview is done and every document is produced.

This is a conservative moment to stand firm. Back the whistleblowers. Back the officers on the street. Back the effort to clean up the books and the streets. If the data were faked, expose it—and finish the job of restoring law and order in the nation’s capital.