Attorney General Pam Bondi appoints DEA administrator as 'emergency' D.C. police chief
During an interview on Fox News, Bondi previewed an order by the Justice Department naming Cole as "emergency" commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department, days after President Donald Trump directed the federal government to take control of the local police and deployed the National Guard in an effort to mitigate crime in the nation's capital.
"Effective immediately, Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrence C. Cole shall serve as MPD's Emergency Police Commissioner for the duration of the emergency declared by the President. Commissioner Cole shall assume all of the powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police," the order from the attorney general's office read.
The order means the existing leadership of the D.C. police, including chief Pamela Smith, will have to receive approval from Cole before issuing any further directives for the department.
Following a meeting with Bondi on Tuesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Smith was serving as "operations lead in working with the federal government and federal forces that will be in the district."
"We are ensuring that our Chief of Police is the leader and is working with her counterparts that have been named by the President, specifically the director of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Marshals Service, to ensure that any additional officers that we have, and we expect that could range in the hundreds on any given night, will be deployed in the way that helps us drive down violent crime," Bowser, a Democrat, said Tuesday.
Smith issued an order earlier Thursday allowing local police conducting traffic stops to notify Immigration and Custom Enforcement Agents about undocumented immigrants they encounter, a moved praised by Trump as a "great step" amid his effort to "stop crime" in the city.
Despite Smith's directive, Bondi during her interview on Fox cited what she framed as "sanctuary policies" in her decision to supplant the police chief for the duration of Trump's 30-day order.
"They're trying to protect criminal aliens. And what's going to happen if we keep this up, criminals are going to flee to DC, and we're not going to let that happen," Bondi said. "That's why, at my directive, we have made Terry Cole now the commissioner over the police."
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Boston Globe
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Buzz Feed
4 minutes ago
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