In just 10 short months, a local Substack author and constant X (formerly Twitter) user, who writes under the byline Joe Friday, has become a must-read for journalists, elected officials, and a whole ecosystem of civic busybodies.

Joe Friday (@dccrimefacts on X), named after the main character in the police procedural TV series Dragnet, comes armed with a peculiar mix of outrage and sarcasm and a seemingly endless supply of charts, slides, graphs, data sets, and, as their byline would suggest, “just the facts.”

But there is one fact that remains elusive: their name.

When I reached out to Joe Friday to learn a little about their motivation, background, and qualifications, they insisted on anonymity and wanted to keep the focus on their reporting and off of themselves. They also declined to provide even basic information about their work experience, personal story, or other indications of the road traveled prior to firing up the X account last spring.

“I am sure you are aware of how brutal political leaders can be in this town and I’ve criticized enough people that they’d happily try and upend my life,” Joe Friday writes via direct message when asked to talk about their work. “I’m pretty hesitant to bring attention on me given how much I’ve criticized some very powerful people in DC.”

“Crime is a real problem in DC and when I started digging into the publicly available data (quantitative and qualitative) I saw a lot of important stories that weren’t really being told,” they add.

Motivations aside, they are no doubt they are settling into the role. They tweet frequently—sometimes 10 times a day or more—and publish data-heavy posts on Substack about once a week. They’ve earned a loyal following, and, over time, they’ve widened the definition of “crime facts” to include truancy, the size of the police force, and District government budgeting.

We know next to nothing about this owner of this account, but we do know a few things: The author is deeply familiar with local criminal justice data, some of which is tucked away in obscure reports and databases. They’re also fairly well-versed in the law enforcement ecosystem in the District and are comfortable writing in a very detailed and fact-anchored way with their analyses (though they freely admit some limitations to their understanding). Do these attributes point to a local government staffer?

They also care enough to devote a significant amount of time to the project, which involves reading through thousands of pages of data, and then synthesizing that information into charts and essays. Could that perhaps suggest a retiree or a bored employee? Or maybe Joe Friday simply devotes all their nonwork time to this project—not a stretch of the imagination in a city with a sizable population of data wonks and policy nerds.

While it’s not uncommon for whistleblowers or D.C. insiders to ask for anonymity in order to speak freely, Joe Friday has earned a respectability that’s rarely afforded anyone online who is afraid to stand by what they write.

The author’s insistence on keeping their identity a mystery has only created a growing obsession. Who is this person so dedicated to documenting D.C.’s “fragmented crime data landscape” (to borrow Joe Friday’s phrase)?

“I am dying to know who it is. It’s very impressive,” says David Alpert, the founder and former CEO of Greater Greater Washington, which fosters conversations about smart growth, housing, and urban planning. “I think Crime Facts has helped elevate the debate,” adds Alpert, who says he appreciates a data source that aims to help strike a balance between the politically charged back-and-forth between Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council.

Dozens of local journalists from all backgrounds are fans of @dccrimefacts, following and engaging with the account and using it as a source of tips for possible news stories. That includes everyone from Heather Long and Megan McArdle of the Washington Post to former Washingtonian editor Harry Jaffe, DC Line (and former WCP) columnist Jonetta Rose Barras, and Mother Jones reporter Stephanie Mencimer (another WCP alum), along with reporters at WUSA9, FOX5, the New York Times, Vox, NBC Washington, WAMU, the Daily Caller, and others.

“Whoever it is, is an entity that is trying to hold authorities accountable. That’s a good thing,” says Keith Alexander, a Post reporter who covers criminal justice and the courts. “It’s quite impressive. They do a good job looking at court records and arrest records. And I have not heard the U.S. Attorney or MPD saying that any of the data is incorrect.”

Alexander and other reporters, some of whom didn’t want to be identified, all acknowledged that they read the data-heavy tweets and Substack posts, some of which include a call for local reporters to follow up. And they’re not the only ones.

“I think it’s great,” one Council budget analyst gushes via email. “Whoever is behind the account is helping to steer the conversation in productive ways, without more finger pointing and name calling. It also does a good job of holding our public institutions (Mayor, MPD, USAO, Council, etc.) accountable for results, backed up by hard data.”

But Joe Friday isn’t all bark; they have some bite. Most notably, their March 2023 post on the USAO’s declination rate prompted coverage in City Paper, the Washington Post, and elsewhere.

By October, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves held a showy press conference announcing an improvement to the number of arrests they were bringing into court as criminal charges (from a shameful 33 percent to a still paltry 44 percent). Graves projected confidence that his prosecutors could continue at that clip.

But by January, Joe Friday came back with more facts. In October, more arrests by police working in D.C. were resulting in criminal charges in court. But after October?

“His office actually charged fewer cases last quarter (October-December 2023) and prosecutions remain significantly below the pre-COVID average,” Joe Friday wrote, adding: “This low prosecution rate is without any known precedent in other major American cities or even DC’s recent past.”

“The fact that prosecutions decreased in Q4 2023 goes against the optimistic narrative that USA Graves spun at his October 2023 press conference,” the anonymous blogger wrote. “While the official narrative boiled down to ‘prosecutions increased because we solved longstanding problems;’ the actual prosecution volumes correspond much more with the media schedule.” 

No local news outlets have picked up this latest update.

Neither Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith nor Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah returned phone calls and emails seeking comment for this column. Graves, who is perhaps Joe Friday’s favorite punching bag at the moment, was likewise unwilling to talk, according to his spokesperson. No surprise then that D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb had no comment either.

But many councilmembers are delighted with the data-heavy tweets. “He’s not just shooting from the hip into the night like some of these accounts,” says Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen. “Normally you have a lot of skepticism with anonymous accounts but everything he talks about is grounded in data.”

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George praises it for “delivering sharp analysis and unbiased commentary on public safety. His reporting has also helped elevate critical issues that were overlooked for too long — such as the decline in prosecutions, the performance of agencies, the lack of bench warrant enforcement, and the unbalanced distribution of policing resources.”

At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson says, “DC Crime Facts has infused nuance and constructive conversation about the public safety landscape, which overall has helped to provide the public with a better understanding of the process and challenges.” 

Interestingly, Allen and others note in interviews that the growth of DC Crime Facts might unintentionally reflect the decline in local news budgets and staffing. As investment in hard-nosed investigative reporting has declined, there is less scrutiny of the institutions of power—in this case the court system, the police, and the District government.

And while there are plenty of other anonymous X accounts stirring up outrage and sharing information, @SafeSidewalksDC, @DCCarViolence, and @FeverPotomac come to mind, none of them have earned as much respect as @dccrimefacts. 

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Ashley Schapitl, who represents single-member district 7D09 in Hill East, is one of many local activists who have come to rely on Joe Friday. In a recent post on X, she criticized the Washington Post for reducing its Metro staff and praised the anonymous account: It’s “such a disservice to District residents to gut local coverage. @dccrimefacts has stepped in with great reporting on various issues, but we need strong local coverage.”

Out of Ink covers media issues relevant to the DMV. Please send tips, suggestions, or feedback to vmorris@washingtoncitypaper.com and connect with him on X @vincentmorris.