WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Residents of the nation’s capital weighed in Monday on President Donald Trump’s move to place the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploy the National Guard to the city.
The District of Columbia’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives Trump a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda.
Residents who spoke with NewsNation weren’t sold on the president’s claims of rampant violent crime, as statistics show a 30-year low last year.
“I think D.C. is already one of the most policed cities in the country, and this is clearly just meant to further brutalize Black and brown people,” said Rebecca, a D.C. resident of 10 years. “Being in the city, small crime is a part of life, you know. You get lots of benefits to city life and you have to deal with a little bit of crime, too. I walk out late, I walk in my neighborhood, I feel safe. It is all a lie. There is just not this huge uptick in violent crime.”
An owner of a liquor store on 14th Street, whose business has been operating in the same location for 40 years, told NewsNation public safety is drastically better than it was decades ago.
“It’s way, way better than before,” he said. “If you’re talking about 15 to 20 years ago, it was very hot. Now it is much better, 100% better. Sometimes, kids steal a couple of beers, but it’s not a big deal. Shootings? Stuff like that? We don’t see that anymore.”
Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in an executive order to declare a “crime emergency” so his administration could take over the city’s police force. He signed a directive for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, has previously questioned the effectiveness of using the National Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years.