Trump orders federal takeover of D.C. police

President Donald Trump announced Monday that the federal government will take control of the Metropolitan Police Department and deploy hundreds of National Guard troops and more than 100 FBI agents to Washington, D.C., citing what he called “an emergency” caused by violent crime.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, squalor and worse,” Trump said at a White House press conference. “This is liberation day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”

The president described the city as being “overtaken by violent gangs, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people,” and claimed the murder rate was higher than in cities such as Bogotá, Colombia.

Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, the president has the authority to assume control of the city’s police department during “special conditions of an emergency nature.” Attorney General Pam Bondi will lead the department, with newly appointed DEA Administrator Terry Cole serving as interim federal commissioner.

Federal law enforcement officers were already stationed in some tourist areas as of Friday. Trump also warned that if crime does not decline, he is prepared to send in military forces.

However, according to Metropolitan Police Department data, violent crime in Washington is at a 30-year low. The city recorded 274 homicides in 2023, 187 in 2024, and has seen further declines in 2025 — with 99 homicides reported as of August 8, compared to 112 by the same time last year.

Nationwide, FBI statistics show violent crime dropped 4.5% in 2024, with homicides down nearly 15%. The first half of 2025 saw an additional 17% decline in homicides across the country.

Trump questioned the accuracy of D.C.’s crime figures, attributing any improvement to his earlier executive order, Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful. A senior D.C. police official, speaking to the Washington Post, credited the department’s “hard work and dedication” and said recent trends had “little to do with recent federal law enforcement action.”

The president’s focus on D.C. crime follows a recent assault on a former staffer — known publicly as “Big Balls” — during an attempted carjacking.

For now, D.C.’s police will answer directly to the federal government — an extraordinary shift in control over the city’s law enforcement, despite statistical evidence suggesting crime is already on the decline.