Washington- 12 August 2025
In an unprecedented move for his administration, U.S. President Donald Trump has declared a “public safety emergency” in Washington, D.C., and announced a federal takeover of the city’s police department. Flanked by his Attorney General and other top administration officials at a White House press conference, the President stated that his administration would “take our capital back” and deployed over 500 federal agents from multiple agencies, including the FBI, DEA, and ATF, in addition to activating the National Guard.
The President’s declaration comes after a high-profile attack on a former government staffer during an attempted carjacking, which he cited as a key example of what he described as a wave of lawlessness in the capital. President Trump’s directive, signed under an executive order, invokes Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to assume control of the city’s police force during a “crime emergency.” He also vowed to address the issue of homelessness, promising to clear encampments and relocate homeless individuals.
This aggressive action has been met with immediate and strong opposition from local officials and critics. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has publicly resisted the move, arguing that the President is exaggerating the city’s crime problems. According to her office and other official data, violent crime in the city has been declining after a post-pandemic spike, and is down 26% from last year. Critics, including D.C. Senator Jack Reed, have called the deployment a “misguided” and “misuse” of the National Guard, warning that the move undermines the rights of D.C. residents and signals a dangerous overreach of federal power. Protests have also erupted near the White House, with demonstrators arguing that the President is using a “crime emergency” as a pretext to impose federal control on a city with a predominantly Democratic and Black population.
