The Washington, D.C., Office of the Inspector General’s investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department’s crime reporting process found it experienced a “systemic breakdown” of its internal systems for crime classification and data reporting.
The MPD has faced scrutiny for its crime reporting statistics, which has led to the Justice Department opening an investigation into the department and the firing of several high-ranking officials.
The OIG report, released Tuesday, found the MPD lacked a cohesive framework for crime classification and reporting, controls over its record management system, and up-to-date policies. MPD culture was also observed to be misaligned with the department’s stated mission, which contributed to the issues with crime reporting controls, the report said.
In a disclaimer, the OIG noted that the report did not examine the accuracy of MPD’s crime reporting, but instead examined whether the department had the right quality-control systems in place for crime data and reporting. The OIG concluded its findings after conducting literature reviews, interviews with officers and staff, ride-alongs, and incident report analyses.
MPD lacked independent unit to ensure reporting accuracy
According to the OIG, an effective internal control framework requires a slate of mechanisms to be in place, including an integrated system with clear leadership; written policies that communicate a clear organizational hierarchy; consistent training standards; and independent oversight that surveils whether controls are in place and working.
“When any one element is absent or begins to deteriorate, the reliability of the system suffers,” the report said. “We found that MPD’s internal control framework for crime classification and reporting had deteriorated over more than a decade.”
Specifically, the report said the MPD’s independent review function was disbanded in 2013 and never replaced, which led to reporting errors, incomplete narratives, or improper reclassifications that went largely undetected or relied on individual employee initiative rather than structured oversight.
“No single failure caused the others, but together they reflect the absence of a functioning, cohesive internal control framework—one in which the parts were designed to work together and leadership had visibility into whether they did,” it said.
The audit found that after disbanding its independent quality control unit, MPD focused on federal National Incident-Based Reporting System compliance while leaving local crime classification and data entry largely unmonitored for over a decade.
To resolve this issue, the OIG recommended the MPD stand up an independent review function to ensure crimes are accurately reported, detect reporting errors, and improve supervisory oversight. MPD agreed with the recommendation, noting that it started creating an independent unit in March to audit and evaluate police reports.
Internal controls failed to catch reporting errors
The OIG also concluded the MPD lacked effective internal controls over its record management system, known as Mark43, leaving gaps that could undermine the quality and integrity of crime reports. The report said the system lacks both technical safeguards to enforce reporting standards and governance over user access, despite department policies requiring officers to submit organized, factual, and complete narratives.
Investigators found Mark43 allowed officers to submit reports or supervisory reviews even when required narrative fields were left blank or contained insufficient information. In a sample of 107 rejected reports filed between 2021 and 2025, about 62% were rejected because of missing required information. The system did not automatically flag those deficiencies before the reports advanced through the process, the report said.
Beyond report quality, the inspector general found weaknesses in how MPD manages access to Mark43. The report said the department had not established a documented framework governing user permissions, routinely reviewing access, or auditing edits made within the system. Because authorized users can modify approved reports without automatically notifying the original officer or supervisor, substantive changes could be made with little oversight.
The OIG recommended that MPD establish a formal access-control framework that documents and regularly reviews user permissions and limits system access to authorized personnel. MPD agreed with the recommendation, telling investigators it has begun auditing user accounts, removing inactive or redundant access, implementing new approval requirements for account change, and working with Mark43 to strengthen role-based access controls.
Outdated policies left oversight gaps
The OIG also found that outdated policies and a lack of proactive risk management left significant gaps in MPD’s oversight of crime reporting. Investigators found the department’s written guidance failed to keep pace with years of organizational and technological changes, while its risk management division never formally assessed risks related to crime classification, reporting accuracy, or data integrity.
The report found many of MPD’s crime reporting directives had not been updated in more than a decade, creating overlapping and sometimes conflicting guidance. Some policies continued to assign responsibilities to units that had been dissolved years earlier or referenced records systems no longer in use. Investigators also found MPD lacked a current, end-to-end map of its crime reporting process, making it difficult to see where controls existed and where new risks emerged.
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To address those deficiencies, the inspector general recommended updating crime reporting policies, requiring recurring risk assessments, and conducting annual reviews of governing directives, which MPD agreed to.
Beyond the three formal findings, the inspector general said MPD’s organizational culture also contributed to the reporting failures. Investigators found employees across ranks described an environment marked by limited trust, siloed communication, and a reluctance to raise concerns, conditions the report said were inconsistent with the department’s stated values. While the OIG stopped short of identifying culture as a standalone finding, it said those issues likely allowed deficiencies identified throughout the report to persist.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
