Washington
DC’s inspector general is investigating police crime statistics, the latest probe against the force
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington’s inspector general’s office announced on Monday that it has started an investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department’s crime data reporting system, the latest in a series of probes into how the force has collected its crime statistics.
In a letter to interim police Chief Jeffery Carroll, Inspector General Daniel Lucas said his overall objective is “to assess the design, implementation, and operation of MPD’s internal control system for collecting, classifying and reporting crime data and statistics.”
The police force’s crime statistics collection has faced increasing scrutiny from authorities in recent weeks. That has come after President Donald Trump issued a monthlong emergency order last summer that federalized the police force and launched a federal law enforcement operation in the nation’s capital that his Republican administration said was meant to fight crime.
A report released last month by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that then-police Chief Pamela Smith often threatened, punished and retaliated against police commanders who presented her with “spikes in crime.” The police chief in the nation’s capital pressured subordinates to manipulate department data to artificially lower the city’s crime rates, according to the a report by the Republican-led congressional committee.
A separate investigation by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office also found that a significant number of MPD reports had been misclassified to make crime rates appear lower than they are. Pirro’s office began its investigation in August as Trump ordered a surge of federal law enforcement officers into the heavily Democratic city to battle what he called out of control crime. Part of that surge included an emergency order that gave the president control of the local department for 30 days.
Neither investigation found grounds for charging anybody with a crime. Pirro said at the time it was up to the MPD to take steps to address “these underlying issues.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Muriel Bowser noted that Bowser requested the inspector general’s involvement after the earlier reports were released.
Throughout the emergency order and the law enforcement surge, local officials have argued that while crime has gone down during the federal operation, it was going down beforehand as well. The investigations argued that the increased presence of law enforcement and National Guard members has been even more effective and the errant crime statistics were downplaying that.
According to the MPD, there were 127 homicides in the District of Columbia last year, a 32% drop from the year before.
Smith, who has since stepped down, disputed the findings that crime statistics were manipulated during her tenure.
Carroll noted the controversy when he was named interim chief and said the department would be focusing on several steps to address the issues, including improved training for officers in classifying crimes and the creation of an audit team that would examine reports to insure they are properly classified. During the same press conference Bowser said she intended to call in the inspector general to examine the questions raised by the reports because the “reports that have been issued leave a lot to be desired in terms of evidence and context and any back and forth with the affected agency.”
California
Man accused of recklessly driving U-Haul into Iran protest in LA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man accused of steering a U-Haul truck toward a Los Angeles demonstration over the weekend in support of Iran’s protests was released Monday, authorities said.
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a press release that officers monitoring the protest Sunday stopped the box truck and directed the driver to turn around as he was approaching a large crowd. Video posted on social media shows the truck speeding down a road where protesters were gathered on the sidewalk, as some shout in surprise.
After police stopped the truck, protesters descended on it and tore off a banner on it that read “No Shah. No Regime. USA: Don’t Repeat 1953. No Mullah.” The crowd attacked the driver who then drove toward a group of officers as demonstrators jumped out of the way, the department said. Officers then formed a line between the crowd and the driver before taking him into custody.
Police initially said one person was hit by the truck, but on Monday the department said no one was struck. Two people declined treatment after paramedics evaluated them at the scene, the fire department said.
The sign on the box truck was an apparent reference to a U.S.-backed coup in that year that toppled then-Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who had nationalized the country’s oil industry. The coup cemented the shah’s power and lit the fuse for the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which saw Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini usher in the theocracy that still governs the country.
From exile in the United States, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah who fled Iran just before the Islamic Revolution, has called on Iranians to join the demonstrations. Some Iranians have chanted pro-shah slogans, which were once punishable by death, highlighting the anger fueling demonstrations that began over Iran’s sanctions-crippled economy.
The protesters gathered Sunday afternoon in Westwood, a Los Angeles neighborhood that’s home to the largest Iranian community outside the country. Some of the demonstrators were waving Iran’s lion and sun flag, an emblem of its former ruler, the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Some of the Iranian diaspora in the United States support the end of the Iranian government’s rule but oppose a return of the monarchy.
Videos shared on social media show demonstrators scrambling out of the truck’s way while a few chase after it. The vehicle stopped several blocks away, its windshield, mirrors and a window shattered. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed police officers keeping the crowd at bay while demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
The city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to emails and voicemails asking about possible charges against the 48-year-old driver. He hadn’t yet been officially charged and was released on Monday.
Investigators searched the truck, “with nothing significant being found,” the police statement said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with military action over its crackdown on protesters in nationwide demonstrations that activists said Monday had left nearly 600 dead across the country.
DC’s inspector general is investigating police crime statistics, the latest probe against the force
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington’s inspector general’s office announced on Monday that it has started an investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department’s crime data reporting system, the latest in a series of probes into how the force has collected its crime statistics.
In a letter to interim police Chief Jeffery Carroll, Inspector General Daniel Lucas said his overall objective is “to assess the design, implementation, and operation of MPD’s internal control system for collecting, classifying and reporting crime data and statistics.”
The police force’s crime statistics collection has faced increasing scrutiny from authorities in recent weeks. That has come after President Donald Trump issued a monthlong emergency order last summer that federalized the police force and launched a federal law enforcement operation in the nation’s capital that his Republican administration said was meant to fight crime.
A report released last month by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that then-police Chief Pamela Smith often threatened, punished and retaliated against police commanders who presented her with “spikes in crime.” The police chief in the nation’s capital pressured subordinates to manipulate department data to artificially lower the city’s crime rates, according to the a report by the Republican-led congressional committee.
A separate investigation by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office also found that a significant number of MPD reports had been misclassified to make crime rates appear lower than they are. Pirro’s office began its investigation in August as Trump ordered a surge of federal law enforcement officers into the heavily Democratic city to battle what he called out of control crime. Part of that surge included an emergency order that gave the president control of the local department for 30 days.
Neither investigation found grounds for charging anybody with a crime. Pirro said at the time it was up to the MPD to take steps to address “these underlying issues.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Muriel Bowser noted that Bowser requested the inspector general’s involvement after the earlier reports were released.
Throughout the emergency order and the law enforcement surge, local officials have argued that while crime has gone down during the federal operation, it was going down beforehand as well. The investigations argued that the increased presence of law enforcement and National Guard members has been even more effective and the errant crime statistics were downplaying that.
According to the MPD, there were 127 homicides in the District of Columbia last year, a 32% drop from the year before.
Smith, who has since stepped down, disputed the findings that crime statistics were manipulated during her tenure.
Carroll noted the controversy when he was named interim chief and said the department would be focusing on several steps to address the issues, including improved training for officers in classifying crimes and the creation of an audit team that would examine reports to insure they are properly classified. During the same press conference Bowser said she intended to call in the inspector general to examine the questions raised by the reports because the “reports that have been issued leave a lot to be desired in terms of evidence and context and any back and forth with the affected agency.”
California
Man accused of recklessly driving U-Haul into Iran protest in LA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man accused of steering a U-Haul truck toward a Los Angeles demonstration over the weekend in support of Iran’s protests was released Monday, authorities said.
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a press release that officers monitoring the protest Sunday stopped the box truck and directed the driver to turn around as he was approaching a large crowd. Video posted on social media shows the truck speeding down a road where protesters were gathered on the sidewalk, as some shout in surprise.
After police stopped the truck, protesters descended on it and tore off a banner on it that read “No Shah. No Regime. USA: Don’t Repeat 1953. No Mullah.” The crowd attacked the driver who then drove toward a group of officers as demonstrators jumped out of the way, the department said. Officers then formed a line between the crowd and the driver before taking him into custody.
Police initially said one person was hit by the truck, but on Monday the department said no one was struck. Two people declined treatment after paramedics evaluated them at the scene, the fire department said.
The sign on the box truck was an apparent reference to a U.S.-backed coup in that year that toppled then-Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who had nationalized the country’s oil industry. The coup cemented the shah’s power and lit the fuse for the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which saw Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini usher in the theocracy that still governs the country.
From exile in the United States, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah who fled Iran just before the Islamic Revolution, has called on Iranians to join the demonstrations. Some Iranians have chanted pro-shah slogans, which were once punishable by death, highlighting the anger fueling demonstrations that began over Iran’s sanctions-crippled economy.
The protesters gathered Sunday afternoon in Westwood, a Los Angeles neighborhood that’s home to the largest Iranian community outside the country. Some of the demonstrators were waving Iran’s lion and sun flag, an emblem of its former ruler, the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Some of the Iranian diaspora in the United States support the end of the Iranian government’s rule but oppose a return of the monarchy.
Videos shared on social media show demonstrators scrambling out of the truck’s way while a few chase after it. The vehicle stopped several blocks away, its windshield, mirrors and a window shattered. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed police officers keeping the crowd at bay while demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
The city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to emails and voicemails asking about possible charges against the 48-year-old driver. He hadn’t yet been officially charged and was released on Monday.
Investigators searched the truck, “with nothing significant being found,” the police statement said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with military action over its crackdown on protesters in nationwide demonstrations that activists said Monday had left nearly 600 dead across the country.
