Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser stated on Aug. 27 that crime has decreased since President Donald Trump deployed Nationwide Guard troops to town and took federal management of the native police division.
Bowser instructed reporters throughout an replace on the enforcement surge that she and her officers “greatly appreciate” the added presence of legislation enforcement, noting that in simply 20 days, the variety of carjackings had fallen by 87 % from the identical interval final 12 months.
“We know that when carjackings go down, when the use of guns goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer, ” Bowser stated. “So this surge has been important to us for that reason.”
She stated that the district will proceed to wish extra police, prosecutors, judges, “more effective prevention programs, and we need to ensure local control.”
Bowser additionally stated on Wednesday that having masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers locally “has not worked.”
The Division of Homeland Safety stated in July—when Los Angeles County supervisors sought to ban legislation enforcement personnel from masking their faces—that ICE officers put on masks to guard themselves from being doxxed and focused.
Trump introduced on Aug. 11 that he would activate lots of of Nationwide Guard troops within the nation’s capital to cope with crime.
The president invoked Part 740 of the D.C. House Rule Act of 1973, which locations the Metropolitan Police Division underneath the management of the president for 48 hours. The president can prolong that management for as much as 30 days with notification to Congress, after which, congressional approval is required.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,” Trump stated at a White Home press briefing on the time. “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”
Bowser, on the time, referred to as the federal takeover unsettling and reiterated her name for full statehood for Washington.
1,000 Arrests Since Federal Takeover
On Wednesday, Bowser stated she had spoken to Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi, White Home Chief of Employees Susie Wiles, and the president.
“I was reminded that the president’s interest in cities predates his time in office, and his knowledge of D.C. had significantly increased from the first time he was in the White House,” the mayor stated. “And so we knew that the priorities around safety and investment in infrastructure would be on the president’s mind.”
When requested whether or not she had gotten assurances from Trump that he wouldn’t try to transcend the 30 days, Bowser stated it was not one thing she had mentioned with the president, however that she would proceed to work with the Trump administration on how Washington’s emergency operations middle and the federal job power can work collectively.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in an Aug. 25 submit on X that within the two weeks since Trump introduced Washington underneath federal management, varied types of crime had fallen, together with violent crime, which was down 32 %; robberies, down 47 %; and homicides, down 60 %.
That very same day, FBI Director Kash Patel stated that there had been greater than 1,000 arrests made throughout Washington because the federal takeover started.
Union Station Takeover
On Wednesday, federal officers stated they’d take over the administration of Washington’s Union Station, in a bid to enhance the working of the property.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated Trump “wants Union Station to be beautiful again.”
“He wants transit to be safe again, and he wants our nation’s capital to be great again,” Duffy stated throughout an occasion celebrating the launch of Amtrak’s NextGen Acela trains.
Union Station is owned by the federal authorities, however has been run by passenger rail service Amtrak.
When requested in regards to the takeover, Bowser stated on Wednesday it was a “good thing” as a result of the station wants at the very least $8 billion price of funding in its renovation, “and that is not something that the district will be able to support.”
“It is an important asset for the Eastern Seaboard. It’s an important asset for the nation. So it is appropriate, in my view, for the federal government to make the necessary investments in the transformation of Union Station,” the mayor stated.
She additionally expressed assist for the president’s $2 billion request from Congress to enhance infrastructure, “especially federal infrastructure in the district.”
Jackson Richman contributed to this report.
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