Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department Commander Michael Pulliam was placed on paid administrative leave for allegedly falsifying crime data in his district.

The former commander from the Third District, which includes Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, was placed on leave with pay this spring over changes he allegedly made to crime data, which diminished the amount of crime supposedly taking place in the area.

Fraternal Order of Police Chairman Gregg Pemberton said there is a broader trend of manipulating crime statistics, a reality the union has recently been investigating.

“When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” Pemberton said.

The union official added that “instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification.”

Pemberton remarked that in some cases, incidents involving a suspect armed with a dangerous weapon were instead reported as felony assaults, allowing both the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI to avoid “reporting that as a part one or a felony offense.”

Pulliam denies the allegations made against him. The officer was placed on leave one week after he submitted an equal employment opportunity complaint against Executive Assistant Chief of Police Andre Wright.