Trump wants to extend federal control over Washington police

New Straits Times

2 days ago

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would ask the Republican-controlled Congress to extend federal control of Washington's city police force beyond 30 days, escalating his campaign to exert presidential power over the nation's capital.
Trump also asserted that any congressional action could serve as a model for other US cities. He has previously threatened to expand his efforts to other Democratic-run cities such as Chicago that he claims have failed to address crime.
The Republican president's extraordinary moves in Washington are reflective of how he has approached his second term in office, shattering political norms and legal concerns to test the limits of his office's power.
It was not clear how Trump's takeover of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department could be replicated elsewhere. In seizing control on Monday, Trump took advantage of a federal law, the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, that permits the president to do so under emergency circumstances for up to 30 days.
There is no basis for Trump to attempt similar takeovers in other cities, according to John P. Fishwick Jr., a former federal prosecutor in Virginia, who said that Washington represents a "unique situation."
Trump also announced on Monday that he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to the city, a tactic he employed in Los Angeles in June when he mobilized thousands of Guard soldiers and US Marines over the objections of state and local officials in response to protests over his administration's immigration raids.
Separately, hundreds of federal officers and agents from more than a dozen agencies have fanned out across Washington in recent days.
Trump has painted a picture of the US capital as a city gripped by a wave of crime and pervasive homelessness, despite both federal and city crime statistics showing that violent crime has declined precipitously since a spike in 2023.
Trump said on Wednesday that the city's crime statistics were a "total fraud," without providing evidence, and that the public would soon see a "big change" in the figures.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi told FOX Noticias that officials were looking into whether the city's statistics last year were manipulated.
HUNDREDS OF OFFICERS ON PATROL
The office of Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, declined to respond on Trump's latest comments. Bowser has sought to strike a diplomatic tone in recent days while also noting that violent crime in the city hit a 30-year low last year.
Still, as big US cities go, Washington remains more dangerous than many others based on its homicide rate.
In 2024, there were about 26 homicides per 100,000 residents, according to crime data compiled from 36 of the largest US cities by the non-partisan Washington-based Council on Criminal Justice. Only four of the 36 had higher homicide rates: Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis and St. Louis.
It is not yet clear what the takeover of Washington's police force means in practice. Chief Pamela Smith has framed the federalization of her department as a collaborative partnership with federal law enforcement agencies, rather than a direct federal takeover, and says she still answers to Mayor Bowser.
More than 1,450 law enforcement personnel were on patrol in Washington on Tuesday night, a White House official said, including 30 National Guard troops and 750 city police officers. The official said the White House expects a "significantly higher" Guard presence on Wednesday night.
The effort has resulted in 103 arrests since Aug. 7, including 43 on Tuesday, the official said. The charges include one homicide charge, 33 firearms charges and 23 immigration charges, the official said, and have led to 24 seized firearms.
During the same period in 2024, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested 364 people in total, police data shows, including traffic and liquor law violations as well as murder, prostitution, carjacking, assault, theft, burglary and robbery.
The MPD made 20,386 adult arrests in 2024, an average of 56 arrests a day, or nearly three times the rate cited by the White House.
The Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI on Wednesday both referred questions seeking more details on the arrests to the White House, a highly unusual deflection that signaled the White House's outsized role in overseeing the law enforcement crackdown.
TRUMP THREATENS EMERGENCY DECLARATION
Asked about Trump's call for congressional action, the offices of House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, both Republicans, pointed to social media posts on Monday expressing support for Trump's actions.
Any legislation to extend Trump's control over the police department would likely stall in the Senate, where Democrats can use procedural rules to block most bills.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that if Congress fails to act, he can declare a "national emergency" to extend the 30-day limit, though legal experts expressed skepticism.
"There's nothing about the president extending past 30 days unilaterally," Claire Finkelstein, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, said of the Home Rule Act. "If the 30 days are up, that's that."
The president has used emergency declarations to justify numerous unprecedented executive actions, including historically high tariffs on foreign imports and his wide-ranging immigration crackdown. Many have drawn lawsuits challenging his authority. — REUTERS