What to know about Trump’s deployment of federal police in D.C.

It looks like President Donald Trump is getting his show of force in D.C.

Officers from a dozen federal law enforcement agencies will seemingly patrol D.C. for the next week by order of Trump, who ramped up his criticism of crime in the city after the assault of Edward Coristine, an ally and prominent staffer of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The officers, from agencies including the Amtrak Police Department, U.S. Capitol Police, FBI, and ICE, will focus on local crime, though it remains unclear what they will be doing or whether they will coordinate with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

“Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens.”

The weeklong deployment is a step short of what Trump has openly mused about, which could include deploying the National Guard or directly taking over MPD. Under the city’s Home Rule Charter, the president can take control of MPD for up to 30 days under ill-defined “emergency” situations.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has sought to avoid any direct entanglements with Trump, did not respond to an immediate request for comment. (Neither did MPD.) Earlier in the week, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton pushed back on federal interference in local affairs. “D.C. residents, a majority of whom are Black and brown, are worthy and capable of governing themselves without interference from federal officials who are unaccountable to D.C.,” she said in a statement.

The sudden deployment of federal police follows a week of rising (and often misleading) rhetoric from senior White House officials who have stridently criticized city leaders and the D.C. Council for being too lax on crime. It also comes in the wake of Trump’s pledge in the spring to “Make D.C. Beautiful and Safe,” and his repeated-yet-unfulfilled threats to take over D.C., which would actually require an act of Congress.

How we got here 

The final spark came last Sunday, when DOGE staffer Coristine was assaulted by a group of youth during an attempted carjacking on 14th Street NW. Despite police responding to the scene almost immediately and arresting two 15-year-olds (and more recently sharing an image of another suspect they are looking for), a photograph of Coristine covered in blood rocketed around social media, prompting calls from Elon Musk and others on the right for Trump to “federalize D.C.” 

The rhetoric escalated from there. Right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk said Trump should call in the Marines and invoke the Insurrection Act to make D.C. as safe as Tokyo or Singapore. (Gun ownership is heavily restricted in both those places.) Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller claimed that D.C. is “more violent than Baghdad,” newly minted U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro told Fox that carjackings are up 111% (they are actually down 37% compared to this time last year), and Vice President JD Vance shared an image that misleadingly said D.C.’s homicide rate is  41 deaths per 100,000 residents. (That was in 2023, when violence spiked in many U.S. cities; this year’s homicide rate is currently closer to 14 per 100,000 residents.) 

According to MPD, homicides so far this year are down 12% from the same time last year, and violent crime as a whole has dropped 26%. That’s on top of the decreases the city saw in 2024, when violent crime was down 35% from the year prior. An FBI report released this week showed that violent crime across the U.S. dropped in 2024, though the country remains a leader among industrialized nations for its overall homicide rate. 

More police alone might not improve public safety

Depending on how they are used, the federal officers could provide needed assistance to a local police department that is stretched. Department and police union officials say MPD remains understaffed by at least 500 officers (there are currently 3,185 sworn officers), and that is reflected in part by historic amounts of overtime staffing. 

A recent report from MPD shows the department has spent more than $61 million on overtime during the current fiscal year, far above the $17.5 million budgeted. (A report last year from the D.C. Auditor found that staffing alone might not be to blame; it’s also how police officers are deployed.)

Still, critics of Trump’s show of force say it’s mostly for optics, and could ignore more complicated issues around how the federal government could help fight crime in D.C.

On overtime alone, almost half of the OT hours that MPD officers work are related to the federal government, like large-scale protests or ushering motorcades throughout the city. In a thread on X this week, At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson pointed out that the federal government already controls parts of the city’s criminal justice system – and is failing to live up to its responsibilities. (In one example, D.C. Superior Court judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate; there is currently a 21% vacancy rate on the court.)

“If the Administration actually cares about crime against D.C. residents and not just DOGE employees, they can help by nominating and confirming judges to our local courts, which, due to inaction by the President and Congress are facing a historic vacancy crisis,” echoed Ankit Jain, one of D.C.’s two shadow senators. 

What the federal police officers will be doing is also important because just being out and about doesn’t mean that crime will sustainably go down. Prior to this deployment, there were confirmed reports of U.S. Park Police officers arresting people for smoking weed or drinking in public in places like Logan Circle (offenses that MPD would usually respond to with a citation), but an MPD official told The Washington Post that such arrests have little impact on the overall decrease in crime. 

In past decades, federal resources have been used to help fight crime in D.C. – albeit in close coordination with MPD. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the D.C. National Guard, which is controlled by the president, was deployed in the city to help fight drug trafficking, but in those cases, they largely let MPD take the lead. In one instance, National Guardsmen were charged with doing clerical tasks, thus freeing up officers to do police work on the streets. 

Focusing on D.C. crime is easy politics for Trump

Of course, Trump’s sudden emphatic focus on crime in D.C. could well be political. For weeks, he’s been trying to shift the conversation around criticisms that his administration hasn’t been forthcoming with information about Jeffrey Epstein. Additionally, crime in D.C. has often been a useful issue for his administration, whether the news was good or bad. Recall that earlier this year, the Trump administration loudly took credit for what was a 25% drop in crime in the city. (If they could take credit then, would they similarly be to blame for how terrible they say D.C. is right now?)

While this current deployment is expected to last for a week, the White House says it could be extended. But even if it isn’t, the federal focus on local crime isn’t expected to subside much. This week, Pirro sent a letter to councilmembers demanding they repeal a number of local criminal justice laws, including one that allows some people to request that their criminal records be sealed and another that allows people convicted of violent crimes to request early release from prison after they have served a portion of their sentence. Pirro and Trump have also focused their ire on juvenile crime in D.C., arguing that the city should charge more juveniles as adults. (Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds can be charged as adults for murder, rape, burglary, or armed robbery.)  

Homeless advocates worry encampments could be targeted 

Advocates for the homeless were on high alert as of Thursday night over concerns that the federal deployment could also target homeless encampments, which have been another source of Trump’s ire.

The office of D.C. Attorney Brian Schwalb advised local hospitals that they might see a surge of patients due to a concerted effort to clear encampments, which could lead to arrests and possible hospitalizations. While no such encampment clearings have yet been reported, earlier this spring, D.C. and federal officials ramped up clearings in response to Trump’s demands. 

Last month, Trump issued an executive order pushing for cities and states to do more to institutionalize people experiencing homelessness under certain circumstances, arguing that they could be better served that way. 

“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order,” read the order. “Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety.”

Homeless groups say a more efficient and humane approach would be to provide housing. That view has been shared by at least some within the Trump administration itself. Documents obtained by The 51st through an open records request show that in May, members of Trump’s Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force discussed the possibility of building 106 temporary shelter units for 80 individuals and 26 families living on the street in D.C. A document circulated by an official at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicated that simply clearing away people experiencing homelessness wouldn’t be effective. 

“People experiencing unsheltered homelessness face significantly higher incidences of co-occurring substance abuse disorder and mental health conditions. For this reason, robust behavioral health services and exceptional case management must be central components of an emergency shelter and triage response,” read the document.