Capitol Police are among the many legislation enforcement companies tapped by President Donald Trump on August 7 to extend federal legislation enforcement presence in Washington DC.
JIM WATSON/AFP by way of Getty Photos
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JIM WATSON/AFP by way of Getty Photos
President Donald Trump is directing federal legislation enforcement companies to extend the police presence in Washington, D.C., after a former staffer within the Trump administration was injured Sunday in an tried carjacking.
The surge in federal policing within the metropolis started simply after midnight on Friday morning and is anticipated to final seven days, with the choice to increase enforcement “as wanted”, based on a White Home official who was granted anonymity to elucidate the small print of the plan. Trump has criticized Washington, D.C., for years, together with repeated requires the federal authorities to take management of the town.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in a press release the transfer is meant to guard the town from violent crime.
“President Trump has directed an elevated presence of federal legislation enforcement to guard harmless residents,” Leavitt wrote. “There might be no secure harbor for violent criminals in D.C. President Trump is dedicated to creating our Nation’s capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and guests from all world wide.”
In line with the White Home official who spoke anonymously, the policing initiative might be led by the U.S. Park Police, with cooperation from greater than a dozen different federal legislation enforcement companies, together with the U.S. Capitol Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service, amongst others.
Nevertheless, residents and native officers interviewed Friday by NPR mentioned they haven’t but seen a notable improve in police presence. The D.C. Nationwide Guard additionally advised NPR in a press release that it had not been activated.
Trump took to social media earlier this week saying crime within the district is “uncontrolled” and repeated his threats to exert federal management of native authorities.
“If D.C. does not get its act collectively, and shortly, we may have no selection however to take Federal management of the Metropolis, and run this Metropolis the way it ought to be run, and put criminals on discover that they don’t seem to be going to get away with it anymore. Maybe it ought to have been completed a very long time in the past, then this unimaginable younger man, and so many others, wouldn’t have needed to undergo the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I’m going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this Metropolis,” Trump wrote.
Like a lot of the nation, D.C. noticed a surge in crime following the COVID-19 pandemic. The district particularly noticed an uptick in violent crime by 2023making the town one of many deadliest within the nation.
Nevertheless, Washington, D.C., has seen a decline in violent crime since then. In 2024, native lawmakers there handed a far-reaching invoice aimed toward enhancing public security. Violent crime within the metropolis hit a 30-year low final yrbased on the Justice Division.
That decline is in step with a nationwide development of serious decreases in violent crime.
In Washington, motorized vehicle theft within the district is on the identical degree it was at the moment final yr, based on preliminary knowledge launched this week by the Metropolitan Police Division (MPD), however from 2023 to 2024, automobile thefts fell by 25%.
Homicides within the district are down by greater than 10% in comparison with final yr, intercourse abuse is down by almost 50% and theft by virtually 30%, based on the town’s knowledge.
The nation’s capital has occupied a singular place by way of its relationship to the federal authorities, lengthy earlier than Trump set his sights on addressing crime there. The district’s nationwide guard, for example, is beneath federal management, not native. And the district is dwelling to many federal police companies which reply on to the federal authorities.
Its native police pressure, the MPD, stories to the mayor and metropolis council, however it may be taken over by the federal authorities for 48 hours if the president deems there to be “particular situations of an emergency nature.” After these two days, the president should notify Congress with a view to keep management of the police for an extended time frame.
Rachel Treisman, Marisa Peñaloza and Luke Garrett contributed to this report.
