Trump introduced on Monday that he would activate the guard and take over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Division, citing a criminal offense emergency within the metropolis.
Nationwide Guard troops began arriving in Washington on Tuesday to start implementing President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the town’s legislation enforcement and safety. They’re a part of an 800-member deployment ordered by the administration.
Trump introduced on Monday that he would activate the guard and take over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Division, citing a criminal offense emergency within the metropolis.
Talking forward of the Nationwide Guard troops’ arrival, White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned that the president’s emergency proclamation “is only the beginning.”
She mentioned: “Over the course of the next month, the Trump administration will relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the district who breaks the law, undermines public safety, and endangers law-abiding Americans.”
Leavitt mentioned Tuesday that the addition of Nationwide Guardsmen to the federalized D.C. Metropolitan Police Division (MPD) would help to “end violent crime in our nation’s capital as part of the President’s massive law enforcement surge.”
Leavitt mentioned that roughly 850 law enforcement officials “were surged” throughout the town on the night of Aug. 11 forward of the Nationwide Guard’s arrival. They made almost two dozen arrests.
The transfer is a part of a push by the administration towards “beautification” of the capital metropolis in addition to the crackdown on crime.
“President Trump … is going to make our nation’s capital the most beautiful and safe city on Earth, just as he promised on the campaign trail,” Leavitt mentioned.
On Aug. 10, Trump condemned crime and homelessness in Washington, saying that if adjustments weren’t made to native coverage, he would federalize policing within the metropolis—a few of his first hints of the deliberate coverage.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control,” Trump wrote in a Sunday put up on Fact Social. “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore.”
In one other put up on Fact Social, Trump shared a number of images exhibiting tents and rubbish on the streets in areas across the capital, saying, “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
“The Criminals, you don’t have to move out,” Trump added. “We’re going to put you in jail where you belong. It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border.”
Trump recommended that native insurance policies be modified to permit prison offenders as younger as 14 to be tried as adults. At the moment, the youngest an individual may be charged as an grownup within the federal district is 15 years previous.
After his threats to federalize policing within the metropolis, Trump on Aug. 11 declared {that a} crime emergency existed within the district, and introduced that he would take command of native police.
“Rising violence in the capital now urgently endangers public servants, citizens, and tourists, disrupts safe and secure transportation and the proper functioning of the Federal Government,” Trump wrote.
He described Washington as being “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people.”
To bolster the message, the White Home revealed graphics exhibiting the town’s murder charge at 27.54 per 100,000 in 2024, in comparison with a murder charge of 15.1 per 100,000 in Bogotá, Colombia, throughout that very same interval, and a murder charge of 10.6 per 100,000 in Mexico Metropolis.
Though the U.S. capital’s crime charge stays excessive, latest statistics point out it has been on the decline.
Crime statistics launched by the MPD point out that the general crime charge fell by 7 p.c because the begin of the yr, with murder down 11 p.c, all violent crime down 26 p.c, and all property crimes down 4 p.c.
In the meantime, an MPD police commander has been positioned on depart after the crime statistics got here below scrutiny from the D.C. Police Union.
The MPD has already carried out no less than 23 arrests within the metropolis, Leavitt mentioned, on costs together with murder, firearms offenses, possession with intent to distribute narcotics, fare evasion, lewd acts, stalking, possession of a excessive capability journal, fleeing to elude in a car, no permits, driving below the affect, reckless driving, and a bench warrant.
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