Exactly. And substantial evidence has come out recently that police officials in DC have been cooking the books. That's why no rational person would, at this time, believe the DC crime statistics over the last couple of years.
I am not sure where you reside but I live near the DC Metro area and watch the local news.
There is ONE commander who has been reported to have done this. Now that may affect the stats in that area but it is not a widespread conspiracy based off what has been reported. He is being investigated and I believe on leave.
I would like someone, who is of this knowledgeable base here to tell me how do you fudge the numbers for murders? Sure you can get one wrong here and there and call it a suicide because you missed something (that has happened where I worked and was changed years later when the truth came out) but the murder rate is the murder rate. In fact for several years the media here in DC would track the number of murders each year as they came in as a news story. So it became a simple math issue. Not sure if the Washington Post is still doing that but they were just a year or two ago.
I would almost suggest it would be just as difficult to fudge the aggravated battery type charges as well. The local news is on the scene of almost every shooting reported in DC, doing a story. A major fixing of the stats would be difficult.
Now, if you get into making a burglary a criminal trespass, or what would be a robbery a theft then that could be a different story.
But let me ask you this, if these cities were going to cook the books do you honestly think crime would be as high as it is?
Not saying crime is not bad in DC. It is bad in many major cities. But scratch your head and ask yourself if it is such a crisis in DC that Mississippi and Missouri have to send troops to DC why is the numbers so high in Jackson, MS (3X of DC) and while I don't have the numbers for Kansas City and St. Louis I feel pretty certain they aren't low. **I stand corrected. As of now MO is not sending NG.** HOWEVER there are several states sending NG who have cities with higher murder numbers than DC.
As stated above don't be distracted by the shiny object in the room. DC has concealed carry permits but like many states reciprocity is not guaranteed for anyone who lives outside of those states.