Trump to patrol DC streets

The US president has announced he’ll join the police and National Guard on Thursday night amid a crackdown on crime in the city

US President Donald Trump has said he will join police and the National Guard to patrol the streets of Washington DC on Thursday night under a new federal crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital.

Last week, Trump invoked the 1973 Home Rule Act to declare a public safety emergency, placing the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) under federal control and deploying up to 800 military personnel to support law enforcement.

“I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course,” Trump told radio host Todd Starnes on Thursday. “So we’re going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They’ve done a fantastic job.”

According to a White House executive order, the city had higher rates of violent crime, murder and robbery than any US state, with a 2024 homicide rate of 27.54 per 100,000 residents.

“It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness in Washington,” the president told a press conference. He vowed to make the capital’s streets safe again.

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The decision has faced strong pushback from leaders of DC – an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Mayor Muriel Bowser called the action “unsettling and unprecedented,” while Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit, arguing the president had exceeded his authority under the law.

According to a Washington Post‑Schar School poll released on Wednesday, nearly 80% of the city’s residents oppose the federal takeover, with many saying they feel less safe due to the increased military and law enforcement presence.

On Thursday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a post on X that a total of 630 arrests had been made in DC since the takeover.

“Our mission to make DC safe again isn’t slowing down,” she added.

Earlier this year, the MPD reported that violent crime in the city had fallen 35% in 2024 compared with the previous year, reaching its lowest level in more than three decades.

This week, multiple media outlets reported that the Department of Justice had opened an investigation into whether the MPD falsified crime statistics.