President Donald Trump earlier this week ordered a sweeping federal intervention in Washington, D.C., deploying National Guard troops and federal law enforcement to patrol the streets, take control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and target violent crime, but the national media haven’t been kind to him.
While previous reports stated that overall violent crime in D.C. is down compared to 2023 — with homicides dropping 32%, robberies 39%, and armed carjackings 53% — there is some question as to whether those stats are accurate.
Earlier this week, CNN and MSNBC cited MPD’s crime statistics more than 70 times to dispute Trump’s claims about rampant crime.
However, those statistics came under scrutiny earlier this year when MPD commander Michael Pulliam was suspended after the police union accused department supervisors of manipulating crime data “to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year.”
To be sure, some local residents are already reporting that the operation has led to some success:
A White House spokesperson also told Fox News Digital that “the recent increase of federal law enforcement officers across Washington, D.C., has already stopped vicious criminals, the distribution of deadly narcotics and the violent use of stolen handguns.”
The statement called Trump’s intervention “bold leadership and decisive action” aimed at making “our nation’s capital beautiful and safe again for its residents and visitors from all the world.”
Trump, for his part, has made clear that his administration will not back down.
“This is the United States of America. It’s the greatest country on Earth,” Trump said. “Our nation’s capital should represent something better than the standard it’s been held to over the last several years.”
The move comes under a formal executive order declaring a “Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia.”
The order cites data showing the nation’s capital “now has a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 states,” with a homicide rate of 27.54 per 100,000 residents in 2024. It also notes that D.C. “averaged one of the highest robbery and murder rates of large cities nationwide.”
“You can be anything you want, but you want to have safety in the streets,” Trump said at a White House press conference. “You want to be able to leave your apartment or your house where you live and feel safe and go into a store to buy a newspaper or buy something, and you don’t have that now.”
Under the plan, the federal government will temporarily assume direct control of MPD operations, a move possible because of the District’s unique legal status under the Constitution. Federal agencies including the FBI, DEA, and ATF will integrate into local policing efforts, with a focus on dismantling violent gangs, stopping the distribution of deadly narcotics, and recovering stolen firearms.
The federal action also comes as Washington ranked fourth in 2024 among 24 major U.S. cities for homicide rates, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. Only St. Louis, New Orleans, and Detroit recorded higher murder rates.
Former NYPD Lt. Darrin Porcher explained that while Trump can directly assume control of MPD due to D.C.’s status, similar measures in other cities could be achieved through federal consent decrees.
“The feds can… send a series of FBI, DEA or ATF agents to a particular city… to target the excessive crimes that are being committed,” Porcher said. Such task forces could focus on homicides, robberies, burglaries, and other violent offenses.
