Trump to deploy National Guard in D.C. — even as data shows crime at 30-year low

CBC

2 days ago

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday he will deploy hundreds of D.C. National Guard troops on the streets of Washington as part of a push to rein in violent crime, even as local police data shows those incidents are down sharply this year.
Trump is also moving to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department, placing the municipal agency directly under the control of people who report to the president.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump described the nation's capital as a crime-infested hellscape that requires a heavy-handed federal approach to bring "bloodthirsty" criminals and "drugged-out maniacs" to heel.
"This is liberation day in D.C. and we're going to take our capital back," Trump said. "This is a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, squalor and worse."
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said some 800 guardsmen will be "flowing" into the district this week — and there could be more added in the coming days. Trump himself said he is also willing to send in the U.S. military if he feels it's necessary to further tamp down what he called a public safety "emergency."
Unlike in other jurisdictions, Trump is the commander-in-chief of the D.C. National Guard and it can be deployed as he sees fit. The district is not a state and, under the federal D.C. Home Rule Act, the president and Congress can usurp locally elected officials, virtually all of whom are Democrats.
The president's decision to use troops as domestic law enforcers has raised eyebrows elsewhere. Lawyers representing Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom will meet in court on Monday to litigate the president's earlier decision to ignore decades of precedent and unilaterally deploy the California National Guard to tamp down civil unrest amid immigration raids in Los Angeles.
But Trump said he is undeterred by legal challenges, saying "woke" D.C. politicians have hamstrung the Washington police in the past — and that's going to change now that local law enforcement will report to one of Trump's most-trusted lieutenants, Attorney General Pam Bondi.
"Now, they are allowed to do whatever they hell they want," Trump said of the police. "It's time for dramatic action. We're going to have a safe, beautiful capital, and it's going to happen very quickly."
D.C. crime down sharply
The move comes even as the data reveals local efforts to crack down on crime are paying off.
According to D.C. police figures, violent crime is down some 26 per cent year-to-date compared to the same time period in 2024 — with particularly steep declines reported in sexual abuse, robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon.
The statistics reveal there have been about 1,600 violent incidents so far this year, compared to the 2,140 reported by this date in 2024 in a city with roughly 700,000 people.
And 2024 wasn't a particularly bad year.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. has reported violent crime in the district hit a 30-year low in 2024, falling some 35 per cent compared to 2023, after local police targeted criminal "crews" who are operating in certain pockets of Washington.
"We are not experiencing a crime spike," Mayor Muriel Bowser said in an interview with MSNBC before Trump's announcement today.
"We have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city — driving it down to a 30-year low, in fact, over the past year," she said, noting those efforts have driven improved tourism numbers and business activity in a city that was hard hit by pandemic-era disruptions.
Blocks from the White House, at least 100 people gathered in front of Lafayette Square to protest Trump's takeover of the city police.
"We will not stand here and allow authoritarianism in Washington, D.C.," said Nee Nee Taylor, a co-founder of Free DC, which organized the rally and was formed to defend home rule in the city, which some local residents fear could be ended on Trump's watch.
"We are going to be here and we're not backing down," Taylor said.
A U.S. Supreme Court police officer stands watch outside of the Supreme Court, June 26, 2025, in Washington. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)
Still, Trump framed the federal intervention as a necessary step to restore order to a city that is more dangerous than some other major locales — even with the recent reported declines.
Some D.C. wards have historically had some of the highest crime rates in the U.S., with homicide rates even higher than the most dangerous cities in America, such as New Orleans, La., and Memphis, Tenn.
The White House pointed to research that shows D.C. had the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country last year as justification for the president's extraordinary measures. Although even those figures show there's been a 30 per cent decline in that type of crime.
"While Fake News journalists and politicians go out of their way to claim otherwise, the reality is that our nation's capital is anything but safe," the White House said in a press release.
Promising to aggressively pursue and deport foreign criminals in the district and round up "homegrown" gang members, Trump said he's prepared to use every possible tool at his disposal to fix what he called "a dirty, disgusting, once-beautiful capital."
"They're rough and tough," he said of D.C. criminals. "But we're rougher and tougher."
Trump is also promising to launch what he's calling a "beautification" campaign in the capital by clearing out homeless encampments, repaving city streets, fixing broken medians and adding new venues like his promised White House ballroom.
Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, an associate professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School who has studied politics and crime, said Trump's police takeover is a concerning development.
"Mobilizing the military to try and control the civilian population — it's one of the first steps we see towards autocracy in other countries around the world," he said in an interview.
"It's one of the scariest things for people who care about the health of democracy — myself included — to see."
De Benedictis-Kessner said the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill, carried out largely by Trump supporters, was among D.C.'s most serious criminal acts in recent memory.
"This president pardoned those people," he said. "It just seems incredibly hypocritical for him to be saying crime in D.C. is out of control."