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Carroll wants to improve department morale and engage with community members. He’s planning to meet with and listen to citizens advisory councils, businesses and other community groups, and is hoping to recruit and retain more officers.
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Incoming interim police chief on the future of the investigation into DC’s crime numbers
Jeffery Carroll has always wanted to be a police officer.
Growing up, he was a Law Enforcement Explorer, a program that allows young people to learn about career possibilities by working with local law enforcement. For three summers in college, he worked for Ocean City’s police department as a seasonal police cadet.
When D.C. police hired him, he was in the agency’s seasonal police academy with the hope of becoming an officer.
Carroll has worked for the department for decades, spending time in the first, third and sixth police districts, the Internal Affairs Bureau, the Special Operations Division and the Homeland Security Bureau.
“One of the goals I’ve always had is to be the chief of police anywhere,” Carroll told WTOP. “But really here, at the Metropolitan Police Department, it’s such a great honor. It’s such a unique agency.”
On Jan. 1, Carroll is set to become the interim D.C. police chief. Mayor Muriel Bowser tapped Carroll for the role to replace Chief Pamela Smith, who announced she will be stepping down at the end of the year to spend more time with family.
Carroll’s tenure will start with department under scrutiny
Reports from both the Department of Justice and House Oversight Committee accused Smith of encouraging leadership to manipulate crime data, with the intention of making D.C. appear safer than it is.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has asked the city’s inspector general to launch its own investigation, and Carroll said Monday that an independent audit team with the department will look at crime reports to “make sure they’re being classified appropriately.”
Officers will also be retrained on classifying crime, he said, to make sure the reporting system has “checks and balances that are built into it to make sure that if things are changed or modified, it’s making the appropriate requirements for revalidation approval.”
When Carroll learned about concerns related to crime data, he said he notified the Internal Affairs Division, which launched an investigation. When reports are finished, he said, department leaders will review recommendations for other changes that need to be made.
“Obviously, there’s concern from the community,” Carroll said. “It does raise a level of distrust or concerns about the numbers. That’s why, I talked a little bit about this when the mayor nominated me, but going into it, the reports aren’t done.”
Separately, Carroll will start the role in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge. While the crime emergency expired in September, National Guard troops and other federal officers remain in the city.
After two West Virginia Guard members were shot near Farragut Square during Thanksgiving week, D.C. police patrolled the city alongside the National Guard.
“MPD members are not actively going out with the National Guard members every day, but we do have a strong relationship with the National Guard. We use them every year for July 4. They support us for a variety of the national special security events,” Carroll said.
The Guard has liaisons in D.C. police’s Joint Operations Command Center too, Carroll said.
Some community members have criticized the agency for collaborating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, but Carroll said the department “does not engage in civil immigration enforcement by policy. We don’t inquire about people’s immigration status.”
D.C. police officers who are part of the city’s Joint Task Force are “not out with ICE members. MPD is not a part of any team that has ICE members on it,” Carroll said.
While D.C. officers won’t inquire about immigration status, other federal law enforcement agencies “do have the authority and they might,” Carroll said.
As is described in a mayor’s order that came after the crime emergency expired, D.C. police regularly collaborate with “every federal law enforcement agency except for ICE,” Carroll said.
According to D.C. law, the council has to confirm a new police chief within 180 days, and Carroll said Monday he’d be interested in the permanent post if offered. But Bowser isn’t running for reelection, so it’s unclear how long his time leading the department will last.
Separately, Carroll has been named in lawsuits that describe police misconduct against protesters.
Ushering in ‘new era of honest leadership’
In a statement after his appointment, the D.C. police union said it’s confident Carroll “will usher in a new era of honest leadership.”
Carroll said he wants to improve department morale and engage with community members. He is planning to meet with and listen to Citizens Advisory Councils, businesses and other community groups, and is hoping to recruit and retain more officers.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s working, just feels like you’re coming, you’re meeting people,” Carroll said. “Sometimes it’s in a bad situation. Sometimes it’s in a good situation. But at the end of the day, it really is to try to make things better.”
When he isn’t focusing on work, Carroll said he spends time with his wife and three kids, “just same thing that any other father would be doing — sporting activities and cheer activities and things like that.”
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