The police union that represents over 3,000 officers with D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department came out in support of President Donald Trump’s decision to take federal control of law enforcement in the nation’s capital.
The D.C. Police Union said in a statement on Monday that it agrees with President Trump “that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety,” according to Fox 5. The union’s positive statement toward Trump was released as Democratic D.C. leaders criticized the administration’s move to take control of the police department.
“The DC Police Union, representing over 3,000 officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), today acknowledges and supports the President’s announcement this morning to assume temporary control of the MPD in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, DC,” the union said. “The Union agrees that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety. However, we emphasize that federal intervention must be a temporary measure, with the ultimate goal of empowering a fully staffed and supported MPD to protect our city effectively.”
Trump announced “Liberation Day in D.C.” on Monday morning, vowing to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.” The president’s move means that the Metropolitan Police Department will fall under the control of the Department of Justice, and DEA Administrator Terry Cole will lead the D.C. police department, The Daily Wire previously reported.
Trump is also sending 800 National Guard troops to help patrol the streets of D.C. in a major effort to crack down on violent crime.
Democrats in D.C., including Mayor Muriel Bowser, blasted the president’s move as “unsettling and unprecedented.”
“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser said.
The Democrat-controlled D.C. city council released a statement, calling Trump’s action “a manufactured intrusion on local authority.”
“Violent crime in the District is at the lowest rates we’ve seen in 30 years. Federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department is unwarranted because there is no Federal emergency,” the city council added. “Further, the National Guard has no public safety training or knowledge of local laws. The Guard’s role does not include investigating or solving crimes in the District. Calling out the National Guard is an unnecessary deployment with no real mission.”
Bowser acknowledged that Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act allows Trump to federalize local law enforcement in D.C. and vowed to coordinate with the federal government.
The White House argues that federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department is necessary because local leaders have failed to crack down on violent crime, highlighting statistics that show D.C. has a higher murder rate than places like Havana, Cuba, and Islamabad, Pakistan. The Trump administration also pointed to a report alleging that police officials have “cooked the books” on crime stats to show the public lower violent crime numbers than what should be reported.
“In 2024, Washington, D.C. saw a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents,” the White House said. “That was the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country — nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton.”