The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into whether Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department manipulated crime data to make the city appear safer than it is, according to records reviewed by The Washington Post.

The probe follows a Justice Department inquiry into similar allegations and comes as local leaders continue to rely on crime statistics to demonstrate progress on public safety. Critics, including the chairman of the D.C. police union, have questioned whether violent crime has been undercounted.

According to a letter obtained by The Post, the Republican-led Oversight Committee is “investigating disturbing allegations that DC crime data is inaccurate and intentionally manipulated, potentially at the direction of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) leadership.” Committee members are requesting documents, communications, and interviews with commanders from all seven police districts.

Investigators also want to speak with Michael Pulliam, a police commander who was placed on leave earlier this year while under internal review for allegedly altering crime data. Pulliam has denied wrongdoing and declined to comment further.

A whistleblower told the committee that “crime statistics were manipulated on a widespread basis and at the direction of supervisory officials” within MPD, raising concerns that the practice affected all seven patrol districts. The whistleblower further alleged that “this manipulation is accomplished by supervisors—with only a cursory understanding of the facts and circumstances of the crime, ignoring the judgment of patrol officers who actually interviewed witnesses and collected evidence by recommending reduced charges.”

The letter from Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) noted that if charges are downgraded to “present the false narrative of a safer city,” prosecutors could also be misled about the seriousness of certain cases.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said last month that the police chief reviewed all seven districts for irregularities but found issues only in Pulliam’s unit. “We are completing that investigation, and we don’t believe it implicates many cases,” Bowser told NBC4.

The Oversight Committee, however, believes the issue is broader. Comer wrote that the practice “does not appear to be isolated, nor is it a recent development.”