President Donald Trump said Monday (August 11) he’s taking over Washington’s police department. Additionally, he’s activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling in D.C. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is one of these city officials. Despite confirming she’ll follow the president’s orders, Bowser hinted more than once that she’s not pleased.
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More Details About President Trump’s Orders For D.C.
Last week, Trump said he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington. He asserted that crime was “ridiculous” and the city was “unsafe,” after the recent assault of a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Then, on Monday, the president had his attorney general, his defense secretary and the FBI director on either side of him when he made false claims about D.C. safety. Trump said he was declaring a public safety emergency and his administration would be removing homeless encampments.
“We’re going to take our capital back,” President Donald Trump declared, adding he’d also be “getting rid of the slums.”
The president has criticized the district as full of “tents, squalor, filth, and Crime,” and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others.
“This has to be the best-run place in the country, not the worst-run place in the country,” Trump said Wednesday. He called Bowser “a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances.”
Who Is Taking Over The Frontlines of The Nation’s Capital?
Someone familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that about 500 federal law enforcement officers are being deployed throughout the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s effort to combat crime. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
The source reportedly said more than 100 FBI agents are among the incoming federal law enforcement personnel who will be on patrol. About 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, too. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Marshals Service are contributing officers.
Mayor Muriel Bowser Responds To Federal Takeover
As Trump spoke, demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest his moves. Meanwhile, local officials rejected the Republican president’s depiction of the district as crime-ridden. Democratic D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb called his actions illegal. Schwalb said violent crime in the district reached historic 30-year lows last year and is down another 26% this year.
“The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” Schwalb said. “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia.”
Speaking of officials, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser made similar comments about crime while addressing Trump’s moves. She said she would follow the law regarding the “so-called emergency,” even as she indicated that Trump’s actions were a reason why D.C. should be a state with legal protections from such actions.
“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser said.
On Sunday, the mayor acknowledged that it is the president’s call to deploy the National Guard as he sees fit. However, she disagreed on how productive the move might be. “I just think that’s not the most efficient use of our Guard,” she said on MSNBC’s The Weekend. Bowser cannot activate the National Guard herself but can submit a request to the Pentagon.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that Washington’s rule could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require repealing the Home Rule Act of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining. Bowser acknowledged the law allows the president to take more control over the city’s police, but only if certain conditions are met.
“None of those conditions exist in our city right now,” she said. “We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.”
What’s The Truth About Crime In D.C.?
Despite wanting more armed personnel in D.C. for allegedly reducing crime, President Trump dismissed the idea that the area needs to expand its police force. Right now, it employs about 3,500 officers.
“What you need is rules and regulations, and you need the right people to implement them,” President Trump said.
Trump has portrayed himself as a friend to law enforcement and enjoyed the political backing from many of their groups. However, he’s pardoned or commuted the sentences of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.
As mentioned, Mayor Muriel Bowser also noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since a rise in 2023. She stressed on Monday that she believed Trump’s views of the city were shaped by the “challenging times” of the coronavirus pandemic. During that time, he faced protests and crime spiked as the country began to recover from the outbreak.
Police statistics show that homicides, robberies, and burglaries are down this year compared with 2024. Overall, violent crime is down 26% compared with a year ago.
What Happens Next? For The Homeless Too?
Despite this show of force, the president has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. However, Attorney General Pam Bondi will assume responsibility for Washington’s Metro police department. Meanwhile, Donald Trump did not provide a timeline for controlling the police department, but he is limited to 30 days under the statute. For context, he invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in an executive order to declare a “crime emergency” so his administration could take over the city’s police force.
Additionally, he signed a directive for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard. In his announcement, Trump also sounded off about potholes and graffiti in the city and called them “embarrassing.”
Also, Trump has emphasized the removal of Washington’s homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go. He did not give details at his news conference Monday.
“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote Sunday in a social media post. “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”
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Associated Press writers Josh Boak, David Klepper, Ashraf Khalil, Alanna Durkin Richer, Darlene Superville and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
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