A D.C. police commander is under investigation for allegedly making changes to crime statistics in his district.

The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed Michael Pulliam was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May — just a week after Pulliam filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief and the police union accused the department of deliberately falsifying crime data.

The union claims police supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year.

Pulliam — the former commander of the 3rd District that patrols Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights — was placed on leave with pay and told he was under investigation for questionable changes to crime data, five law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told News4.

That came about a week after he filed a complaint against Executive Assistant Chief of Police Andre Wright, according to three law enforcement sources familiar with the complaint.

Pulliam denied the allegations against him.

“When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” Fraternal Order of Police Chairman Gregg Pemberton said. “So, instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification.”

The police department’s command staff is focusing on two categories in order to get the numbers to fall, Pemberton said: armed with a dangerous weapon and injured person to the hospital.

“When management officials are directing officers to take reports for felony assault, or if they’re going back into police databases and changing offenses to felony assault, felony assault is not a category of crime that’s listed on the department’s daily crime stats,” Pemberton said. “It’s also not something that’s a requirement of the FBI’s uniform crime reporting program. So, by changing criminal offenses from, for example, ADW bat or ADW gun to felony assault, that would avoid both the MPD and the FBI from reporting that as a part one or a felony offense.”

The union has been gathering evidence for some time now by looking at reports and talking with officers all over the city, Pemberton said.

“What we’ve heard through our members and through members of management that were willing to talk with the union is that this is a directive from the command staff, is that they wanna make sure that these classifications of these reports are adjusted over time to make sure that the overall crime stats stay down,” Pemberton said. “And this is deliberately done.”

As of last Monday when News4 spoke with Pemberton, D.C. crime data shows violent crime was down 28%. Thursday, the department’s website said violent crime is down 25% when compared to the same time last year, and overall crime is down 8%.

“That’s preposterous,” Pemberton said. “There’s absolutely no way crime could be down 28%. Last year they suggested that it went down 34%.”

In April, Pulliam’s wife, Capt. Rachel Pulliam, was transferred by Chief Pamela Smith from the Youth Division to midnights in the 7th District.

Subsequently, according to three sources familiar with the incident and the timing of everything, Wright ordered Cmdr. Pulliam to pack up his wife’s belongings from Youth Division and move them on his own to his wife’s new assignment in 7D.

He viewed the order as retaliatory and a misuse of authority, sources familiar with the complaint said.

About a week later, Cmdr. Pulliam’s police powers were revoked, five law enforcement sources told News4.

Chief Smith told News4 she can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.

As for the claims made by the union, Smith released this statement: “The Metropolitan Police Department is committed to upholding the trust and the confidence of the public. Any irregularity in crime data brought to my attention will be addressed immediately. I do not condone any official reclassifying criminal offenses outside the guidelines set in MPD policy. Any allegation of this behavior will be dealt with through our internal processes, which will ensure those members are held accountable. I have the utmost confidence in the command staff leadership currently in place across the Metropolitan Police Department.”

Wright declined to comment to News4.

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