Trump’s Takeover of DC Police

I WROTE THESE A FEW DAYS AGO. BUT THIS IS AN OGOING STORY. I WILL BE WRITING MUCH MORE ON THIS CRITICAL TOPIC.

VIEW FROM A RECENT DC RESIDENT: “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” President Trump announced Monday as he touted the federal takeover of the District’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

This, after already ordering various federal law enforcement agencies to ramp up local patrols and sending National Guard troops to support law enforcement in the capital.

And despite the wild shrieking on the left, and most major news media, Trump’s MPD takeover is perfectly constitutional and long overdue. I say this not as a MAGA Trump supporter, but as a recent five-year resident of D.C. — only blocks from the White House — and a security and protection professional with experience all over the city.

Despite living in an upscale building, we moved out of D.C. late last year, mostly because of the crime, drugs, filth, and homelessness. While Democrats’ knee jerk response is that crime is allegedly down in D.C., statistics are being manipulated, and reality on the ground is far different from those stats.

From 2020 to 2024, I personally dealt with crack addicts and dealers, petty criminals, and homeless camps just outside our building on 13^th and M St., Northwest. A dirty homeless tent city and drug den sprung up on Thomas Circle yards from our building’s side entrance; just one of many across the city.

And it grew larger and larger for over a year. Not through the fault of the police, but due to the city’s insane crime-friendly policies.

Despite constant citizen complaints to the MPD about drugs and crime, the camp was not removed until a murder was committed on site in May of 2022, in broad daylight.

And this was a supposedly “good part” of D.C.

But this wasn’t the only murder in the relatively small area of D.C. these last few years.

To highlight the point, the Washington Post reports that a 33-year-old man was shot and killed in the District just hours after Trump announced he was taking control of the D.C. police.

The murder happened in Northwest (NW) Washington within two blocks of our old residence and a half-mile of where two of the high-profile homicides the president cited occurred.

Last month near Seventh and M streets NW a young GOP congressional intern was killed by a stray bullet. And that killing was just north of the K Street block where a former Trump government official was killed in his car last year during an attempted carjacking while he was waiting to pick up his wife.

Last week, near Logan Circle, a group of teenage perpetrators viciously assaulted and attempted to carjack a 19-year-old former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee.

In May a man opened fire 21 times on a young couple exiting an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., shooting the victims in the back and then firing again at the woman as she tried to crawl away, killing them both.

Also, in May a man was found shot and killed in the 1600 block of 14th Street, Northwest, again near Logan Circle.

And then there are these examples affecting law enforcement officers.

In July 2024, a deputy U.S. Marshal shot and wounded an 18-year-old who tried to carjack him while he was protecting Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s home in Washington, D.C.

In October 2023, an off-duty federal protective service officer shot and killed a 13-year-old, who along with a teenage accomplice, attempted to carjack the officer, while he waited to begin an overnight shift in a downtown D.C. federal building.

On November 29, 2023, an off-duty FBI agent was carjacked at gunpoint in Washington, D.C., near Capitol Hill.

Also in November, 2023, Secret Service agents protecting then-President Joe Biden’s granddaughter in the swanky Georgetown area of D.C. shot at robbers breaking into their official government vehicle.

In that same month, a man stole a marked University of D.C. police SUV and used it to go shopping.

Finally, in the summer of 2021 a 53-year-old Peace Corps official was struck by a stray bullet shortly after having dinner with his wife also in the Logan Circle area, only blocks from our building.

And these are only the very serious cases I remember off the top of my head from my time living and working in D.C. I haven’t even scratched the surface of the number and viciousness of the crimes committed in the predominantly Black Southeast area of D.C. that is about as lawless as it gets, and officers call the “wild west.”

The crime there is rampant and almost all the perpetrators and victims are Black. Some, only infants or toddlers, as in the case of the three-year-old girl hit and killed by a stray bullet in July.

While Democrats and the media will attempt to downplay the statistics, and MPD leaders have been accused of cooking the books to make crime stats look better, some stats don’t lie.

The District only has about 700,000 residents, far less than other major U.S. cities whose numbers are in the millions.

Still, according to the White House, in 2024, D.C. had a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents, the fourth-highest in the country, and nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton, Los Angeles.

If Washington, D.C. was a state, it would have the highest homicide rate of any state in the nation.

Vehicle theft is more than three times the national average — ranking it among the most dangerous cities in the world. In 2024, there were triple the number of carjackings compared to 2018.

In the first seven months of 2025, there have already been nearly 100 homicides, 1,600 violent crimes and nearly 16,000 total crimes reported.

While most Democrats and major media will try to vilify Trump’s effort, many people, especially local Black crime victims, but also white liberals living and working in D.C., privately applaud Trump for trying to make the city safer.

And so do most of the overworked, understaffed, and micromanaged street cops of the MPD who, until now, have been fighting crime with both hands tied behind their backs.

They are all praying that Trump’s takeover is successful.

Meanwhile, my second piece expands on this major topic:

Trump’s DC Police Takeover: Leftist Rage vs Reality

No. It’s not an authoritarian power grab by any stretch, as the mayor has claimed. It does mean law enforcement and policing in Washington, D.C., will get much better. And crime will be reduced significantly, while quality of life will improve greatly.

When federal agents and congressmen are getting carjacked, and interns being murdered and violent youths rampaging in the streets, it is justified, regardless of what selective and manipulated crime statistics touted by critics may try to say.

And even local Democrats admit it.

First let’s recall that, despite the wild hysterics on the left and its subordinate media, President Trump has full legal and Constitutional authority to take over D.C.’s police force. Our nation’s capital is a federal city with only limited self-rule provided by congress since 1973.

The Home Rule Act allows Trump to take control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for up to 30 days for a’ public safety emergency’ after which he needs to ask congress for an extension.

Trump has already stated that he plans to seek extensions indefinitely. He has also stated he can declare a national emergency if congress doesn’t act.

https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1954985421173297298

Trump also said that his administration would be pushing a crime bill involving D.C. to use the city as “a very positive example.” He said it will serve as a “beacon” for other Democratic cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

And on the ground the ‘takeover’ is not the fascist exercise claimed by the left. In practical terms it only means that the Chief of Police, while keeping the mayor in the loop, now officially reports to Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and ultimately, the president.

Mayor Muriel Browser has tried to say otherwise, implying a partnership with the feds, but no matter how collaborative things will be, she isn’t in charge of the MPD anymore.

Priorities, taskings and other policies will now be set by DOJ in consultation and coordination with MPD and the mayor’s office. Some of the restrictive policies that until now have hamstrung the MPD may be loosened, and the force may be able to finally police more effectively.

This also allows the federal government to better coordinate added federal law enforcement assets such as the FBI, Park Police and Secret Service already in the city, and the National Guard, now deployed in small numbers, to support the MPD in its policing.

There has already been a visible increase of federal law enforcement officers, including 500 FBI, DEA, and other agents across most public parts of the city.

The White House has said that federal agents in the city would be “identified, in marked units, and highly visible,” though those restrictions are not mandated by law.

Meanwhile, city officials are admitting the added federal resources help.

“You’re talking about 500 additional personnel in the District of Columbia,” MPD Chief Pamela Smith said. “We’re down in numbers with our D.C. police officers. So, this enhanced presence is going to impact us in a positive way.”

At a Wednesday evening checkpoint in Northwest Washington, local and federal officers, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, pulled over drivers for seat belt violations or broken tail lights, enacting the’ broken windows’ policing that succeeded in New York City in the 1990s and early 2000s.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said Wednesday that by all indications, federal agencies were not “trying to boss MPD” around and, in fact, were soliciting ideas about how they could be helpful.

Smith said Tuesday that she provided a strategic plan to Terry Cole. “I think collaborating with MPD and providing additional resources can only be for the good,” Mendelson added.

Bowser and Chief Smith have both said that a boost in law enforcement efforts from federal law enforcement could help the city further drive down crime.

In practice, in addition to the visible presence of federal officers, agents less familiar with policing the city have been paired with MPD officers or officers with the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division.

And they are quickly making a difference. The Washington Post reports:

About 130 FBI agents have been detailed to the effort, including agents dispatched on temporary assignments from the bureau’s Philadelphia and Baltimore field offices.

On the first two nights of the operation, they conducted joint patrols with D.C. police officers or assisted in arrests tied to open warrants. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that agents have been involved with local partners in making at least 18 arrests since Monday evening, including apprehending one suspect wanted for murder as well others wanted for DUI, theft, assault and violating a restraining order. Agents also detained several people for illegal gun possession, he said.

Meanwhile, despite the shrieking about troops on the streets of D.C. being some sort of menace, the fact is that, as a federal city, D.C. does not control its National Guard, which is effectively under presidential command already.

So far, half of the 800 National Guard troops who were mobilized to guard D.C. have processed in, and some of those troops are already on the streets. Their role will primarily be focused on traffic control and logistics, freeing up MPD officers to focus on crime.

The expectation is that the National Guard troops will be deployed to federal parks, monuments and federal buildings, some are based out of the National Park Police station in Anacostia Park, while federal law enforcement would be deployed to higher-crime areas of the city.

Far from appearing threatening, many troops have been seen casually taking selfies with citizens and tourists on the Mall. The troops were not carrying guns but had weapons available if needed.

Guard forces begin to work more closely with local police to determine how best to support them.

Meanwhile, National Fraternal Order of Police President Joe Gamaldi likes Trump’s plan a lot.

Talking about D.C., Gamaldi said: “Their average homicide rate has doubled in the last 10 years. They used to average less than 100 homicides. Now they average over 200,” a claim which is backed up by the city’s own data.

And it’s because you have a radical element on that city council that has defunded their police. They have embraced revolving door criminal justice policies. And frankly, they treated the hardworking men and women of law enforcement in that town like crap. So, of course, they need help. You have to do something, otherwise it’s going to get out of control.

Paul Crespo is the President of the Center for American Defense Studies, Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News, and Managing Partner of SPECTRE Global Risk. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes.

He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide.

He later ran for congress, taught political science, wrote for a major newspaper and co-hosted his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and abroad.