Two high-ranking members of the D.C. police have been placed on administrative leave, and the department is offering no explanation for the move.
Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright and Inspector Natasha Wright, his wife, are both off duty, a D.C. police spokesperson said, declining to say why.
“MPD cannot comment on active internal investigations and personnel matters,” an emailed statement to WTOP said.
Wright was mentioned in a Justice Department review last December examining how the Metropolitan Police Department classified crime. The draft federal memo included a witness account alleging Wright was “known to lower crime” when determining offense classifications.
“Commanders purportedly brief up to the Assistant Chiefs of Patrol Services North or South, who then brief up to Andre Wright, Executive Assistant Chief of Patrol Services, who one witness stated is known to lower crime,” the report read.
The department’s crime reporting practices are already facing broader scrutiny.
The D.C. Office of the Inspector General recently opened a separate investigation into how D.C. police collect and report crime data.
Former Police Chief Pamela Smith, who retired last year, repeatedly pushed back on claims that crime numbers had been manipulated under her leadership. She denied authorizing or supporting any effort to alter crime data.
D.C. police have not said whether the administrative leave for the Wrights is connected to any of the ongoing reviews.