Mayor Counters Trump’s Claim Of Rising Crime In Washington DC
President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of the National Guard to Washington DC and placed the city’s police department under federal control, citing the rise in crime in the United States capital.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump accused “violent gangs, bloodthirsty criminals, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people” of taking over the city, while vowing to “take our capital back.”
Trump also declared a crackdown on crime and homelessness in the U.S. capital.
He announced that the DC Police Department would be placed under “direct federal control” through provisions of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, and pledged to relocate homeless individuals “far away from the capital.”
The president cited recent attacks on federal employees, including a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer he described as evidence of a threat to government officials.
Trump claimed the city’s murder rate was among the highest in the world and pointed to carjackings and theft as proof of a crime surge.
However, the BBC reports that official data contradict the president’s assertions.
According to BBC, as of August 8, Washington DC’s police figures show overall crime is down 7% compared to last year, with violent crime down 26%, homicides reduced by 12%, and carjackings falling 37%.
The city’s Mayor, Muriel Bowser, also rejected Trump’s claims, saying the city has reached a 30-year low in violent crime after a spike in 2023.
“We are not experiencing a crime spike,” she said, calling comparisons to war zones “hyperbolic and false.”
The president’s move has sparked protests outside the White House, with demonstrators chanting “Hands off DC” and “Protect home rule.”
Critics accused Trump of conflating homelessness with crime and warned that displacing the city’s roughly 6,000 unhoused residents without solutions could make matters worse.
Federal agents, including the FBI, DEA, and US Border Patrol officers, have already been deployed to tourist areas and nightlife districts, with around 450 personnel patrolling since Sunday.
Trump insists the measures will make Washington “safer and more beautiful than it ever was before,” claiming that the operation is a political and symbolic “liberation day” for the capital.
Mayor Counters Trump’s Claim Of Rising Crime In Washington DC is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
