D.C. Councilwoman: I Trust Crime Stats, Chief ‘Investigating’ ‘Case of Some Possible Discrepancies’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” D.C. City Councilwoman Brooke Pinto (D) said that she trusts the city’s crime statistics and the city’s police chief “found one case of some possible discrepancies, and she put that officer on leave and is investigating it. And so, we take accuracy very seriously.”

Host Phil Mattingly asked, “I want to start with the crime stats debate that has been going on, the allegations that there have been falsehoods or that they’ve been manipulated on some level. What’s the truth and your sense of things right now?”

Pinto answered, “So, crime stats are very important to be accurate. That’s something that’s important to me as the judiciary chair. That’s important to our chief. That’s important to our mayor. And it’s something that we take really seriously, so much so that our chief conducted her own internal investigation several months ago to make sure that those stats were accurate. She found one case of some possible discrepancies, and she put that officer on leave and is investigating it. And so, we take accuracy very seriously. And I’m — I stand by and support the numbers that our Metropolitan Police Department has.”

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