(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Pam Smith, the outgoing chief of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, delivered a fiery farewell speech Friday in which she appeared to pin blame on subordinates for reportedly manipulating crime data.
“The same folks who said in that report that they changed their numbers … and the report is very clear, I did not direct anyone, you should investigate those folks,” Smith said at the MPD headquarters, as quoted first in WUSA9.
Her comments addressed accusations from the House Oversight Committee and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro that the MPD systematically manipulated data to make crime appear lower.
House Republicans said police commanders “were berated for reporting rising crime and pressured, both in meetings and in separate individual sessions, to lower reported crime figures.”
Minutes later, Smith erupted.
“‘F’ you!” she said, claiming the “f” word was a reference to Jesus Christ.
“I forgive you. Because the Bible makes it very clearly when Jesus was hanging on the cross when he said to us … even in the pit of agony and defeat, he said, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’”
Directly addressing federal investigators, she stated early in her speech: “Never would I, never will I compromise my integrity for a few crime numbers.”
“How dare you? How dare you? How dare you attack my integrity? Attack my character. You don’t know who I belong to,” she continued.
Smith, who announced her resignation earlier this year, was appointed as MPD chief in 2023 after previously joining the department in 2022 as its chief equity officer.
