What DC was like first night of federal takeover: SAN reporter hits the streets

President Donald Trump announced a federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday afternoon, giving the administration control over the local police during the city’s quietest time of year, August recess. The decision was met with praise from Republicans who called it an important step toward safety, and condemnation from Democrats who said it will not make the city safer. 

The DC Home Rule Act allows the president to take control of the MPD for 30 days if he determines special conditions exist that constitute an emergency. Trump cited the nearly 1,600 violent crimes that have been committed year-to-date and the district’s murder rate, which stands at 27.3 per 100,000 residents, the fourth highest in the country.

However, Justice Department data shows that overall violent crime is down — in fact, at its lowest point in three decades.

Under Trump’s executive order, Attorney General Pam Bondi will lead the Metropolitan Police Department. Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Terry Cole will be the federal commissioner. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the D.C. National Guard will arrive next week. According to the Army, they will focus on logistics, administrative tasks and maintaining a physical presence to support law enforcement. 

Read Trump’s executive order here. 

Review up-to-date crime statistics for the district here. 

Overall, Washington was a ghost town Tuesday night. Many residents are on vacation because Congress is on recess. Straight Arrow News observed an average police presence for this time of year. Aside from a couple of FBI agents sitting in a food store reading magazines, there weren’t any signs of extra officers on patrol.

Straight Arrow News spoke with Washington residents and found they have mixed feelings about Trump’s action and the state of crime and safety in the district. 

Do you agree with Trump’s decision? 

Geronimo Collins, Lifetime D.C. area resident: Youth crime is taking place. Whether it be in assaults, petty crime, petty thefts, carjackings, car break-ins. But I think that this should have been more of an effort for the federal law enforcement and the administration to work more closely alongside the D.C. government, to come up with a solution that would resolve crime, but also not feel like a show of force. 

Judy Moore, 20-year D.C. resident: A part of me says yes, and a part of me says no. I think we need more pressure on the crime, the youth. I do believe we need that to cut down on the crime. 

Crystal Shackelford, 4-year D.C. resident: It’s stupid. There’s crime that needs to be addressed, but you don’t solve homelessness with police intervention. There is an issue with DC cops being stretched too thin. That is true. I don’t think people want to be police officers because the benefits and pay are not there. It’s very challenging work to deal with things when you don’t have program funding, for example, for the homeless or for the youth to help rehabilitate them.

Do you think DC is better, or safer, now than it was when you first moved here? 

Collins: It’s absolutely much safer. I was around when D.C. was in the midst of the crack epidemic, as a lot of majority Black cities were at the time in the 80s and 90s. I definitely feel like violent crime, compared to that time, is much less of an issue. I still feel safe walking the streets of D.C., hanging out at night or whatnot. 

Moore: I’m afraid to walk the street at night, because you never know what’s going to happen. Twenty years ago, safe. I never experienced anything like this.

Shackelford: I have never not felt safe. I also don’t put myself in situations to go in gang-related neighborhoods, but I don’t think that’s super specific to D.C., right? Like, big cities have issues. Definitely want to deal with those issues, but maybe if we worked on our education program and other areas, then we wouldn’t have those issues as much. 

If the local DC government or MPD could make one change, what should it be? 

Collins: I know a lot of people are saying that there’s this whole catch-and-release type of thing happening, but I can’t give an opinion on that. I’m not as well-versed in what’s really going on in the court system regarding convictions and jail time.

Moore: They should be stricter on the crimes. Whoever commits the crime, whether it’s a youth or an adult. Because they’re coming out, repeating, coming out, repeating, going back, doing the same thing.

Shackelford: The education system and dealing with the youth. Putting (youth) on curfew does not solve the problems. I really think that they just need to create programs for the youth. They’re bored. They don’t have fully developed brains. Their parents are probably working two or three jobs. They’ve been pushed out, so they don’t have those social programs. And I think if the city provided better social programs for them, a better education for them, that would be where we could focus, so we wouldn’t have to end up in the situation we’re in right now.