Posted on Monday, August 11, 2025
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by Alan Jamison
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President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday declaring a crime emergency in Washington, D.C. As part of the order, the federal government will take over operational control of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (DCPD) and activate 800 National Guard troops.
According to the Home Rule Act, the 1973 law which established local control over the nation’s capital, the President can at any time federalize the police department for up to 30 days – an authority Trump has now exercised. The move comes following a week of Trump hinting that he may make the move as episodes of rampant lawlessness, particularly from gangs of unruly teenagers, continue to make headlines.
Trump held a press conference on Monday, announcing his executive order and proclaiming the day as “Liberation Day in D.C.” The Trump administration will now have the opportunity to enact a tough-on-crime policing policy and ideally provide a clear contrast to the chaos and violence that are indicative of liberal-run cities.
In addition to the executive order, Trump issued a memorandum ordering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard to patrol the city. Hegseth will also coordinate with state governors to authorize additional National Guard personnel as needed. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that the U.S. Park Police will be deployed to defend the city’s monuments.
Hegseth explained at the press conference that residents in the area will begin to see troops patrolling the city soon.
“You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week,” Hegseth said. “There are other units we are prepared to bring in. Other National Guard units, other specialized units – they will be strong. They will be tough, and they will stand with their law enforcement partners.”
As Trump was speaking, protestors began gathering outside the White House, and Democrats quickly took to social media to object to the decision. D.C. City Councilman Charles Allen posted on X that federalizing DCPD is an “extreme, outrageous, and dangerous move.” Notably, as one X user pointed out in response, Allen backed efforts to defund DCPD in 2020 – directly leading to a spike in crime.
Allen also posted that D.C. “experienced a 52% drop in violent crime and is now at a 30-year low” – claims echoed by other high-profile Democrats like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
However, there is ample reason to doubt those statistics. Last month, the DCPD announced that a police commander had been placed on administrative leave for allegedly falsifying crime data to make the crime rate appear lower than it actually is in the city. The law enforcement union Fraternal Order of Police has also disagreed with the lower crime statistics in Washington, D.C., with reports from police officers that their supervisors have them write down a lesser offense than what actually occurred.
“When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” Fraternal Order of Police Chairman Gregg Pemberton said to NBC Washington. “So, instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification.”
The head of the D.C. Police Union has praised Trump’s actions. “We stand with the President in recognizing that Washington, D.C., cannot continue on this trajectory,” union chair Gregg Pemberton said in a statement. “Crime is out of control, and our officers are stretched beyond their limits. The federal intervention is a critical stopgap, but the MPD needs proper staffing and support to thrive.”
There have been several instances of government employees being killed or attacked in the city this year. In May, two Jewish staff members of the Israeli embassy were shot and killed outside of the Capital Jewish Museum. In June, an intern for Kansas Republican Rep. Ron Estes was shot and killed near the White House.
Earlier this month, a staff member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) within the White House was assaulted and injured by a group of juveniles. Over this past weekend, a juvenile was arrested after firing shots into a crowd during an unruly gathering of teens in the city’s Navy Yard neighborhood, where many Trump administration staffers live.
Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.
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