In a 13-minute speech in front of her mother, the mayor and the Metropolitan Police Department command staff, D.C. Chief of Police Pamela Smith angrily defended the job she did and called out the people who questioned her integrity.
She leaves the job under a cloud after two highly critical federal reports.
When Smith announced earlier this month she is stepping down after two-and-a-half years in the role, she said she had decided to leave the job to spend more time with her family and, after 28 years in law enforcement, she said it was time to move on.
“This has really been a fast-paced role because it is in a major city,” she said then. “And I know that the challenges that we faced have, you know, we’ve had some high points and we’ve had some low points, but, respectfully, right now, this is a personal decision for myself and for my family.”
Since that announcement two weeks ago, Smith stayed silent as reports from the U.S. House Oversight Committee and the Department of Justice claimed she created a “toxic management culture” within the department in which commanders said they felt pressured and even instructed to lower crime classifications.
But at police headquarters on her last day in office Friday, Smith made it abundantly clear she was furious with how she was portrayed in those reports.
And she had something to say to the people who questioned her integrity.
“Let’s be really clear about one thing: Never would I, never will I ever compromise my integrity for a few crime numbers,” she said, raising her voice like a preacher from the pulpit.
“Never would I compromise my love for God, the faith that I had in this city,” Smith said to applause. “Never would I compromise my integrity; never would I compromise 28 years in law enforcement for a few folk who couldn’t stand to be held accountable. And if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it again!”
Smith appeared to be directing her remarks at the commanders who spoke to investigators with the House Oversight Committee.
“How dare you! How dare you! How dare you attack my integrity, attack my character!” she shouted. “You don’t know who I belong to!”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on the House report, calling it a rush to judgement to serve a politically motivated timeline.
She thanked the chief Friday.
“Thank you for your leadership over the last two years,” Bowser said. “I want to thank you for your spirit of accountability.”
Before ending her remarks, Smith had a word for who she called her “haters.”
“So, I’m going to the Bible when I say this to my haters: F you.”
Some in the crowd gasped; others chuckled. Someone yelled, “Drop the mic!”
“No, it’s not a drop-the-mic moment. Watch me in this space,” Smith said. “I forgive you.”
“I forgive you,” she repeated, enunciating each syllable as her voice dropped to a growl.
After Smith left the podium, she returned to say the people who said those things about her should be investigated.
As she did the traditional walkout from police headquarters, Smith turned one more time and waved to the people there to say goodbye.
DC’s first female Black police chief
Smith was appointed in 2023 as the first Black woman to serve as chief of the D.C. police department. She took over when D.C. was experiencing a spike in violent crime, particularly homicides. As chief, she oversaw a dramatic drop in crime in just about every category.
But the past four months were overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s federal law enforcement surge, a temporary presidential takeover of the police department, community outrage over D.C. police participation in federal immigration enforcement and those ongoing federal investigations into allegations of manipulated crime data, which Smith and Bowser firmly deny.
Earlier this week, Bowser named Jeffery Carroll, the executive assistant chief of Specialized Operations at the Metropolitan Police Department, the interim police chief.
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