Soon after he ordered a federal takeover of DC’s police department, President Trump announced a Department of Justice inquiry into whether police higher-ups had manipulated data to give the false impression that crime declined this year. The announcement coincided with one of DC Police Union chair Gregg Pemberton’s Fox News appearances.

In the segment , Pemberton—who had also called the takeover a “critical stopgap” to address crime, and said the union “stand[s] with President Trump” on it—applauded the DOJ inquiry. Many of his members, he said, had been told by captains and commanders to downgrade their reports to less serious crimes, like theft instead of robbery. “The only explanation can be to keep the crime stats down,” he said, “because politically that’s expedient for t

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