Posted Thursday, May 24, 2012 --- 12:46 p.m.

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Gov. Scott Walker and his recall challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, are exchanging jabs over a recent news report that questions whether Milwaukee police misrepresented crime statistics.

Walker said Thursday the report raises questions about Barrett's leadership. He says he expects Barrett to react by blaming other people.

Barrett says if any crime statistics were wrong, they'll be corrected. But he also says there's no allegation that the numbers were deliberately manipulated, and he credits the police department for requesting its own audit well before the report came out.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found at least 500 cases in which aggravated assaults were misclassified as minor assaults. Had the incidents been properly classified, last year's violent-crime rate would have risen 1.1 percent instead of falling 2.3 percent as the department reported.

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.