Trump Declares Crime Emergency in DC, Federalizes Metropolitan Police Force 

President Donald Trump, flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, announced that he was taking executive action to restore law and order in our nation’s capitol by invoking Section 740 of the 1973 District of Columbia Home Rule Act. 

The Act allows a president to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for 48 hours before he must notify Congress and for a total of 30 days before he must get approval from Congress.

In a press conference, Trump proclaimed, “This is liberation day in DC and we are going to take our capitol back,” through the federalization of the MPD and the deployment of 800 National Guardsman who will assist with enforcement. 

Hegseth said the D.C. National Guard will be “flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week” and that the Pentagon was “prepared to bring in other National Guard units, other specialized units.”

“Crime in D.C. is ending and ending today,” Bondi declared and will lead the MPD.

President Trump compared the “violent crime, bedlam and squalor” to Los Angeles and Oakland, CA and through executive order, laid bare the “violent crime crisis” that places the District of Columbia among the “top 20 percent of the most dangerous cities in the world.”

The magnitude of the violent crime crisis places the District of Columbia among the most violent jurisdictions in the United States. In 2024, the District of Columbia average one of the highest robbery and murder rates of large cities nationwide. Indeed, the District of Columbia now has a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 states, recording a homicide rate in 2024 of 27.52 per 100,000 residents. It also experienced the Nation’s highest vehicle theft rate with 842.4 thefts per 100,000 residents—over three times the national average of 250.2 thefts per 100,000 residents. The District of Columbia is, by some measures, among the top 20 percent of the most dangerous cities in the world. 

Just last month, a Washington D.C. police commander was suspended for allegedly manipulating crime data to make it appear that violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year. The D.C. police union admitted this fraudulent and deliberate practice was “widespread.” 

Fraternal Order of Police Chairman Gregg Pemberton told News4: “What we’ve heard through our members and through members of management that were willing to talk with the union is that this is a directive from the command staff, is that they wanna make sure that these classifications of these reports are adjusted over time to make sure that the overall crime stats stay down,” Pemberton said. “And this is deliberately done.”

Just last week, Trump administration staffer Edward Coristine, aka Big Balls, was violently attacked in Dupont Circle by 10 juveniles while trying to stop an apparent car jacking. Coristine’s attack prompted President Trump to call for increased penalties on juvenile offenders and may have been the final straw for the Trump administration to take executive action. 

Despite the violent attack and admitted manipulation of violent crime data, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in on Trump’s executive action by declaring on X that Trump was “unhinged” and that violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low. She has since limited comments to her post, perhaps due to the backlash from those who actually live and work in D.C.

In a following press conference, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser referred to Trump’s takeover of the MPD as “unsettling,” falsely repeated that violent crime was at a 30-year low, and pushed for D.C. statehood. 

“My message to residents is this,” Bowser said. “We know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood.”