Journalist, assault survivor: Washington DC police misleads public on violent crime numbers

The nation’s capital is facing renewed scrutiny over its public safety claims after a journalist and sexual assault survivor accused city officials of suppressing crime data to downplay violence. 

In an op-ed published Aug. 14 in the Washington Examiner, Anna Giaritelli — homeland security reporter and former Washington DC resident — said that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) omitted her 2020 assault from its public crime statistics even though her attacker was convicted and sent to federal prison.

“Five years ago, I was violently attacked and sexually assaulted in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., by a homeless man,” Giaritelli wrote. “But if you look for evidence that the attack happened in the city’s crime statistics, you won’t find it.”

The assault occurred near Union Station, just a block from her home. Giaritelli credits a bystander for saving her life. Police later matched DNA from the crime scene, leading to the arrest of a man with a history of criminal behavior. 

Yet the judge released him from jail multiple times pending trial — even after he was re-arrested for illegally carrying a machete.

“The D.C. police officers on patrol must have been as aggravated as I was,” Giaritelli said. “Over and over again, they arrested a man with a previous criminal history only to have him right back on the street a day later.”

Her piece described a city more concerned with optics than accuracy. According to Giaritelli, an MPD spokesperson told her that the department includes “some sex abuse charges, but not all of them.” MPD told her their online “Crime Cards” dashboard only lists first-degree felonies — leaving out many serious offenses like hers. 

“That would mean that for every person robbed, assaulted, or sexually abused in anything less than egregious ways, you have not been counted into the total tally,” Giaritelli explained. “The pain you suffered was not severe enough, according to MPD’s standards.”

Giaritelli noted that while some commentators and media voices have recently claimed that crime is improving in the capital, others have accused city officials of distorting the numbers. But both sides, she suggested, may be missing the full picture.

“Turns out, it is actually worse than they knew,” she said.

CatholicVote reported Aug. 8 that President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to take over policing in parts of the city, citing crime that he called “totally out of control.” 

A White House statement said that “there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.,” and the administration deployed federal law enforcement, including the U.S. Park Police and Homeland Security agents, to patrol the city’s most trafficked areas.

Though she had spent years covering federal law enforcement, Giaritelli said the system's flaws became fully visible to her only after living through them. 

“The truth of what happened to me and the D.C. government’s role in it is as much a public scandal as it is a personal trauma,” she said. “D.C. police covered up the unspeakable wrong that the stranger did to me. Even though a judge sentenced my attacker to hard time in prison, D.C. police leadership would rather deceive the public and appear less dangerous than list mine and countless other sexual assaults on their website.”

Now, she’s calling on officials to acknowledge the real scale of crime in the nation’s capital. 

“I have shared my story,” she concluded. “Will anyone hear it and respond?”

>> Trump deploys federal officers to patrol Washington, DC, amid high crime rates <<