Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said “F you” to her critics during her farewell address, as the District’s top cop exits at the end of the month amid allegations she fudged crime statistics.
Chief Smith launched into a fiery defense of her reputation following a congressional report that accused her of coercing command staff to alter statistics so the city would appear less crime-plagued.
“Let’s be really clear about one thing: Never would I, never will I ever compromise my integrity for a few crime numbers,” Chief Smith said Friday in a speech delivered in front of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Metropolitan Police Department’s command staff.
“Never would I compromise my love for God, the faith that I had in this city,” she said. “Never would I compromise my integrity; never would I compromise 28 years in law enforcement for a few folk who couldn’t stand to be held accountable. And if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it again.”
Members of the audience stood and applauded the chief as her voice reached a crescendo during her emotional address.
Chief Smith’s comments were in response to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee’s report that said she was determined to give D.C. residents the perception of lower crime “by whatever means necessary.”
According to the report, MPD’s seven district commanders were bullied by Chief Smith into downgrading key violent and property crimes to lesser offenses so they would not be shared in public crime updates.
Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican and committee chairman, called on Chief Smith to resign immediately after the investigation found she “coerced staff to report artificially low crime data and cultivated a culture of fear to achieve her agenda.”
Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, blasted the committee’s interim report as being biased and lacking any evidence to support its claims. She also said the House committee rushed to publicize its investigation for political reasons.
During her farewell speech, Chief Smith laid into the commanders who criticized her to lawmakers.
“How dare you! How dare you! How dare you attack my integrity, attack my character! You don’t know who I belong to,” Chief Smith boomed from the podium.
“So, I’m going to the Bible when I say this to my haters: F you,” she said.
The allegations of crime data manipulation stem from a WRC-TV report in which a police commander was accused of downgrading offenses after the fact.
The alleged actions of the commander, who was suspended and is under an internal investigation, became a favored talking point of President Trump during his summertime crime crackdown in the District. The president referenced the report whenever D.C. leaders argued that violent crime in the city was at a 30-year-low.
