New acting DC police chief to focus on building community 'trust' around crime data

FULL Interim DC Police Chief Interview

Jeffery Carroll was named interim D.C. police chief. His appointment follows Chief Pamela Smith’s decision to step down at year’s end.

WASHINGTON - D.C. acting police Chief Jeffery Carroll is starting his new role under a cloud of controversy as Chief Pamela Smith departs amidst allegations of inaccurate crime statistics in the District. 

FOX 5 DC's Bob Barnard spoke with Carroll Monday afternoon about the major issues he's looking to tackle as acting chief. 

DC crime statistics

The backstory:

A week ago, the House Oversight Committee released a report, accusing Smith of using her authority to foster a culture of fear and retaliation to drive crime numbers down. 

The report is based on interviews with seven district commanders and one suspended commander. They allege Smith pushed them to classify crimes as lesser offenses to make crime appear lower. The report also claims Smith punished or removed officers who reported accurate crime numbers and that she created a toxic workplace culture.

Smith has said her resignation had nothing to do with pressure from Capitol Hill or critics. 

MPD crime data is being investigated by Congress, the Department of Justice as well as the District Office of the Attorney General. 

"Moving forward, as we go into the new year, regardless of what those reports say, we’re going to move forward with some things internally that make sure there is trust in the community in crime stats. That means new training, increased training for officers as it relates to the classification of crimes. Some policy implications and technology as it relates to the actual reporting.  So kind of the mechanical computer reporting system and the checks and balances that are built into that and then establishing an independent audit team here in the department to look at those reports to make sure they are being classified appropriately," said Carroll. 

The National Guard in D.C. 

Local perspective:

The National Guard has been stationed in the city since August, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington.

Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the District were patrolling the city under the Secretary of the Army’s command. The administration also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist with patrols.

Carroll spoke Monday about MPD's ongoing relationship with the National Guard, before the Trump administration's deployment. 

"We work with the National Guard every July 4th. For large scale special events. So, we have relationships already established with them. We have relationships with our federal partners because they’re here every day. Escorting the president of the United States, or working with the diplomatic security service or US Park Police. We have those relationships. So, it’s not so much about what administration it is, but we’re going to continue to work with them for the overall goal to drive down crime and to engage in the community," said Carroll. 

Juvenile crime

Dig deeper:

Carroll spoke Monday about some of his top focuses, including combating youth crime and working o retain and hire more police officers. 

"It’s really challenging. Over the past five years we’ve used a variety of strategies in this area, specifically. There’s so many law-enforcement agencies it makes challenging, but to your point, not only to recruit new talent in, but retain the people that we’ve been here is really important. So we’re going to look at any kind of different ways we can to work together to get more members that are here also to increase the morale to help retain people that are here," said Carroll. 

Carroll says when it comes to youthful offenders, he's focused on making sure there are resources for juveniles. 

Things to engage them other than crime, but also if juveniles are engaged in crime, making sure they are held accountable. So, for our officers, just making sure that we have relationships. We have a lot of different things in the department we do outside the enforcement mechanism. Our youth and family services division here within the department. Engage with the youth. Do a variety of outreach and programs with them. So we’re going to continue to focus on that, but also if individuals are committing violent crimes, if they're carjacking people, they're assaulting people, we’re going to investigate them and arrest them and bring them forward to court for prosecution," said Carroll.