House Probe Slams D.C. Police Chief for ‘Ecosystem of Fear, Retaliation, and Toxicity’

Image via The Washington Post

From The Washington Post:

A months-long congressional investigation accuses the chief of the D.C. police department of incentivizing her subordinates to downplay crimes to maintain an illusion of a safer city, according to a report summarizing the findings obtained by The Washington Post.

Based on interviews with all seven current D.C. police district commanders plus one who’s on leave, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee said Pamela A. Smith “propagated an ecosystem of fear, retaliation, and toxicity” — another salvo in the power struggle between federal and local authorities over public safety in the nation’s capital.

The report arrives days after a leaked draft from a Justice Department investigation into the police department found Smith created a “coercive culture of fear” that may have encouraged the manipulation of crime statistics. It bookends a week that began with Smith issuing an abrupt announcement that she’d be stepping down at the end of the year to spend more time with family.