Trump takes control of Washington’s police and warns other Democrat cities

Washington.- The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Monday that he is taking federal control of the Washington D.C. Police and will deploy at least 800 National Guard troops under the justification that “insecurity is out of control” and blaming “wandering mobs of unbridled youths.” From the White House press room, Trump painted a picture of a U.S. capital out of control due to crime, saying that homicides are much higher than places that are considered “the worst in the world,” such as Bogota and Mexico City. The president invoked section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to, after declaring a public safety emergency, place the capital’s police department under federal order and put the National Guard in charge of “restoring public order and security” in the capital with, at least, 800 agents to be deployed on the streets.

“Our capital city is under attack by violent gangs, criminals, maniacs and vagrants and this cannot go on any longer” said the president and assured that the capital “will be cleaned up quickly”.

However, the law is designed to give the federal government control of the local police of the District of Columbia for 48 hours in the event of an emergency and allows for an extension of up to 30 days of that control, after notification to Congress. After a month, Trump would need that federal control to be codified into law. The Republican relied on some graphics that show the murder rate for the year 2024, in which it can be seen that Washington – where 27.54 per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded – leads the ranking and practically doubles the one that follows, Bogota (15.1 per 100,000), and surpasses others such as Mexico City, Islamabad, Lima, Ottawa, Paris or Havana. Attorney General Pam Bondi will be in charge of overseeing the federal takeover of the capital police and the president added that he is willing to send military personnel to Washington if necessary. The interim police commissioner will be the director of the DEA, Terry Cole. Bondi said that “crime in Washington D.C. will be exterminated and that they will use “everything they can” to combat people who commit serious crimes in the American capital.

Juvenile Crime as Justification 

Last week, Trump had threatened to federalize the capital (something he could only do with the support of Congress and would mean the end of the capital district’s autonomy law in force since 1973) after the attack suffered by Edward Coristine, an employee of the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), on August 3 when he tried to defend a woman who was suffering the theft of her car in the city center.

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Washington D.C. District Attorney Jeannie Pirro, a former Fox News journalist appointed by Trump to the position, stated during the conference that she wants to change the law to be tougher on youths aged 14 to 17 who are committing crimes with firearms in the American capital.

Juvenile delinquency in Washington D.C. has seen an increase in recent years, especially in violent crimes committed by youths between 14 and 17 years old, although statistics show a significant reduction in crime so far this year.

Warns other democratic cities

Trump said he expects other cities to “clean themselves up” and see what he is doing in the capital. He later made a direct allusion to the large cities in the country that are governed by the Democratic party. “I’m looking at New York,” said the president, adding that he could do the same in Chicago, which in his opinion “is a disaster.” According to data from the Metropolitan Police Department, armed juvenile gangs are responsible for much of the violence affecting the American capital. Faced with this situation, measures such as nighttime curfews for minors have been implemented, as well as prevention and rehabilitation programs, in a city with high school absenteeism.