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<\/p>\nU.S. President Donald Trump announced\u00a0Monday he will deploy\u00a0hundreds of D.C. National Guard troops on the streets of Washington as part of a push to rein in violent crime, even as local police data shows those incidents are down sharply this year.<\/p>\n
Trump is also moving to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department, placing the municipal\u00a0agency directly under the control of people who report to the president.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump described the nation’s capital as a crime-infested hellscape that requires a heavy-handed federal approach to bring “bloodthirsty” criminals and\u00a0“drugged-out maniacs” to heel.<\/p>\n
“This is liberation day in D.C. and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said. “This is a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, squalor and worse.”<\/p>\n
WATCH |\u00a0Trump to deploy National Guard in D.C., take over city’s police:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump to deploy National Guard in D.C., take over city’s police <\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday he will deploy hundreds of National Guard troops on the streets of Washington and take over the Metropolitan Police Department as part of a push to crack down on crime in D.C., even as local police data shows those incidents are down sharply this year. <\/p>\n
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said some 800 guardsmen will be “flowing” into the district this week \u2014 and there could be more added in the coming days. Trump himself said he is also willing to send in the U.S. military if he feels it’s necessary to further tamp down what he called a public safety “emergency.”<\/p>\n
Unlike in other jurisdictions, Trump is the commander-in-chief of the D.C. National Guard and it can be deployed as he sees fit. The district is not a state and, under the federal D.C. Home Rule Act, the president and Congress can usurp locally elected officials, virtually all of whom are Democrats.<\/p>\n
The president’s decision to use troops as domestic law enforcers has raised eyebrows elsewhere. Lawyers representing Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom will meet in court on Monday to litigate\u00a0the president’s earlier decision to ignore decades of precedent<\/a> and unilaterally deploy the California National Guard to tamp down civil unrest amid immigration raids in\u00a0Los Angeles.<\/p>\n But Trump said he is undeterred by legal challenges, saying “woke” D.C. politicians have hamstrung the Washington police in the past \u2014 and that’s going to change now that local law enforcement will report\u00a0to one of Trump’s most-trusted lieutenants, Attorney General Pam Bondi.<\/p>\n “Now, they are allowed to do whatever they hell they want,” Trump said of the police. “It’s time for dramatic action. We’re going to have a safe, beautiful capital, and it’s going to happen very quickly.”<\/p>\n D.C. crime down sharply<\/p>\n The\u00a0move comes even as the data reveals local efforts to crack down on crime are paying off.<\/p>\n According to D.C. police figures<\/a>, violent crime is down some 26 per cent year-to-date compared to the same time period in 2024 \u2014 with particularly steep declines reported in sexual abuse, robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon.<\/p>\n The statistics reveal there have been about 1,600 violent incidents so far this year, compared to the 2,140 reported by this date in 2024 in a city with roughly 700,000 people.<\/p>\n And 2024 wasn’t a particularly bad year.<\/p>\n The U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. has reported violent crime in the district hit a 30-year low<\/a> in 2024, falling some 35 per cent compared to 2023, after local police targeted criminal “crews” who are operating in certain pockets of Washington.<\/p>\n At a press conference later Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Trump’s actions are “unsettling and unprecedented,” but not totally surprising, given his past rhetoric about Washington, which she called a “beautiful city” despite what others say about it.<\/p>\n Bowser said Trump’s image of D.C. comes from his “COVID-era experience” when homelessness and crime rates were much higher than they are now.<\/p>\n “We are not experiencing a spike in crime but rather a decrease in crime,” she said. “We’re at a 30-year violent-crime low.”<\/p>\n She noted that bolstered crime-fighting efforts have helped improved tourism and business activity in a city that was hard hit by pandemic disruptions.<\/p>\n “We haven’t taken our foot off the gas.”<\/p>\n While leery of Trump’s actions, Bowser said there’s little she can do to stop him, as D.C. is a federal district without state-like constitutional privileges.<\/p>\n The city’s police chief, Pamela Smith,\u00a0will still be in command of the force, but she is already liaising with federal authorities on what will be done differently, Bowser said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a senior Democrat from the area, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine,\u00a0said Trump’s police takeover was a\u00a0“waste of taxpayer dollars” and “an unnecessary escalation clearly designed to distract Americans from issues like rising prices and incompetence from the Trump administration.”<\/p>\n And blocks from the White House, at least 100 people gathered\u00a0in front of Lafayette Square\u00a0to protest Trump’s actions.<\/p>\n “We will not stand here and allow authoritarianism in Washington, D.C.,” said Nee Nee Taylor, a co-founder of Free DC, which organized the rally and was formed to defend home rule in the city, which some local residents fear could be ended on Trump’s watch.<\/p>\n “We are going to be here and we’re not backing down,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n Still, Trump framed the federal intervention as a necessary step to restore order to a city that is more dangerous than some other major locales \u2014 even with the recent reported declines.<\/p>\n Some D.C. wards have historically had some of the highest crime rates in the U.S., with homicide rates even higher than the\u00a0most dangerous cities<\/a> in America, such as New Orleans, La., and Memphis, Tenn.<\/p>\n![\"Washington](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/trump-district-of-columbia.jpg\")
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks as Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith, left, and D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly, listen during a news conference on President Donald Trump’s plan to place Washington police under federal control and deploy National guard troops to Washington, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/supreme-court.jpg\")
A U.S. Supreme Court police officer stands watch outside of the Supreme Court, June 26, 2025, in Washington. (Mariam Zuhaib\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754944150_6_trump-district-of-columbia.jpg\")
The District of Columbia National Guard Headquarters is seen in Washington on Aug. 11. (J. Scott Applewhite\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n