House Oversight Chairman Comer investigating FBI over ‘quietly’ revised crime statistics

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Thursday launched an investigation into the FBI over its alleged “failure to report complete, accurate national crime data.”

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said the bureau “failed to include” in its 2022 data a 4.5% increase in national crime. 

The FBI had initially reported a 1.7% decrease in violent crime in 2022, but later “quietly” revised those figures, Comer said. Comer alleged that the FBI failed to include in its initial count “an additional 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies, and 37,091 aggravated assaults.” 

Comer said the FBI’s failure to report this data “draws into question the veracity” of the 2023 Crime in the Nation report. 

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House Oversight and Accountability committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a hearing with Commissioner of the FDA Dr. Robert Califf in the Rayburn House Office Building on April 11, 2024, in Washington, DC.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

He noted that Vice President Kamala Harris “touted the 2023 data” and the media used it “to dispel Americans’ real concerns about crime.” 

“The Committee is concerned that the FBI’s recent failures to report accurate crime data are politically motivated,” Comer said. “The Committee is seeking documents and communications to understand the FBI’s failure to provide Congress and the American people with accurate crime data and whether the 2023 data is, in fact, accurate.” 

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The FBI told Fox News Digital it stands behind each of its Crime in the Nation publications.

The FBI said a “significant number of agencies” were unable to complete the transition from the bureau’s traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS) to the more comprehensive National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for the 2021 data collection year.

FILE – An FBI seal is seen on a wall on Aug. 10, 2022, in Omaha, Neb.  (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

“Due to the lower volume of participation, the FBI was unable to produce the traditional national estimates for 2021,” the bureau said. “To provide a confident comparison of crime trends across the nation, the UCR Program performed a NIBRS estimation crime trend analysis.”

The FBI said its release last month of Crime in the Nation, 2023, was the first phase in its efforts to provide the public with more timely data. 

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The bureau said it will soon transition to monthly data releases “to promote transparency and provide an opportunity for consumers to review data based on more timely crime counts with the understanding that data will be continuously updated.”