The head of D.C.’s police department announced high-level personnel moves Tuesday in the wake of an internal investigation into allegations of crime statistics manipulation that has left 13 officers facing potential termination.
The affected officers — including captains, commanders and other high-ranking officials — have been placed on administrative leave, interim D.C. police chief Jeffery Carroll said at a news conference. All of the proposed discipline is related to an internal affairs investigation into alleged manipulation of crime data that minimized their seriousness, he said.
Despite the investigation, Carroll said he still trusts D.C.’s crime numbers.
“We use crime statistics every day to help us with deployment across the city,” Carroll said. “I do have confidence in those numbers.”
Among the shake-up’s changes, former Fourth District commander Nikki Lavenhouse was promoted to assistant chief of Patrol Services South, and Cmdr. David Hong has been moved into Lavenhouse’s previous role. Cmdr. Christopher Dorsey was named the commander of the Second District.
Dorsey and Hong have “already hit the ground running and will spend the next few weeks meeting with community members to continue to build on progress that they’ve already made across their districts,” Carroll said.
The changes come after the assistant chief of Patrol Services South, LaShay Makal, and the Second District commander, Tatjana Savoy, were placed on administrative leave. Two other high-ranking officials facing possible discipline related to crime statistics and other alleged misconduct — Assistant Chief for Patrol Operations Andre Wright and former Third District commander Michael Pulliam — were already on administrative leave.
Carroll said the internal investigation stemmed from a referral from the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., but he declined to disclose specifics. “What I can tell you is there were allegations of misconduct that were made, and based on those allegations, members were investigated, and the outcome is related to these individuals,” he said.
The accused officers will have the opportunity to defend themselves through the department’s disciplinary process, which can lead to arbitration and take years to complete.
Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), who heads the House Oversight Committee, called the department’s investigation “a step in the right direction” in a statement on Tuesday.
“But make no mistake: these terminations are a direct result of the House Oversight Committee’s work exposing dangerous efforts by local MPD leaders to artificially lower crime statistics,” Comer’s statement said.
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