In response to the federalization of Washington D.C. Monday morning, President Donald Trump's usual critics are saying crime in the Nation's Capital isn't "that bad" and claiming that stats are going down.
FYI: The source of all the claims that crime is down in DC is...the DC Metro PD, which is led by a far-left DEI advocate who had to suspend a commander for...altering crime statistics.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 11, 2025
So yeah, you can decide whether to trust those numbers or not.
What they fail to mention, however, is that the books on crime data were being cooked by a police commander.
"A D.C. police commander is under investigation for allegedly making changes to crime statistics in his district. The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed Michael Pulliam was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May. That happened just a week after Pulliam filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief and the police union accused the department of deliberately falsifying crime data, according to three law enforcement sources familiar with the complaint," local NBC 4 Washington reports. "The union claims police supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year."
If you believe “crime is down,” you might want to buckle up for this story where @nbcwashington exposes that MPD has been falsifying crime data. One commander is under investigation for allegedly changing classifications to make it appear crime is down. https://t.co/6ReE2CZfDm
— DC Police Union (@DCPoliceUnion) July 18, 2025
So what's the real story? The White House is putting out these numbers:
In 2024, Washington, D.C. saw a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents.
That was the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country — nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton.
If Washington, D.C. was a state, it would have the highest homicide rate of any state in the nation.
In 2012, the homicide rate in Washington, D.C. was just 13.9 per 100,000 residents.
Washington, D.C.’s murder rate is roughly three times higher than that of Islamabad, Pakistan, and 18 times higher than that of communist-run Havana, Cuba.
The number of juveniles arrested in Washington, D.C. has gone up each year since 2020 — many of whom have had prior arrests for violent crimes.
There were 29,348 crimes reported in Washington, D.C. last year, including 3,469 violent offenses, 1,026 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 2,113 robberies, and 5,139 motor vehicle thefts.
So far in 2025, there have already been nearly 1,600 violent crimes and nearly 16,000 total crimes reported in Washington, D.C.
There have been nearly 100 homicides, including the fatal shootings of innocent civilians like three-year-old Honesty Cheadle and 21-year-old Capitol Hill intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym.
Vehicle theft in Washington, D.C. is more than three times the national average — ranking it among the most dangerous cities in the world.
People who live in the city are also speaking out.
D.C. woman whose brother was attacked and murdered by a group of juveniles reacts to the crime problem in Washington:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 11, 2025
"All these mothers, children have been killed in the streets by juveniles — been carjacked by juveniles." pic.twitter.com/iTy8eU1POn