Washington, D.C., residents are speaking out — both for and against — President Donald Trump’s move to federalize the city’s police department and activate 800 National Guard soldiers.
Trump said during a Monday news conference he was invoking Section 740 of the 1973 District of Columbia Home Rule Act to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department.
He cited rising crime as the reason for the takeover, but MPD statistics show a 26% drop in violent crime this year so far, compared to the same period last year.
D.C. residents and activists held a “Free DC” rally not far from the White House on 16th Street before Trump’s news conference.
“We are going to be here and we’re not backing down,” one community activist said at the rally. “Know that the safety of the community is inseperable from its sense of belonging and justice, not its fear of somebody’s uniform. Let us choose a future where safety is earned, not enforced by intimidation.”
Many of the demonstrators wore black t-shirts with the words “Free DC” in white below the emblem of the D.C. flag. They held up signs saying “#TimeToResist” and “Free D.C. release the Epstein files.”
“Around the world, we have seen the rise in authoritarianism. Now we are seeing it here. And what we know from history is that authoritarians always want to control the capital and the people in the capital city. It’s because it’s the fastest way to silent dissent and to accelerate their agenda,” an activist told the crowd. “And I want to be clear that this is not about crime. This is about what Trump is trying to do to D.C. in order to take over D.C. and silence us.”
But not all D.C. residents are against the move to federalize the police force.
“I’m happy Trump is gonna have his department take over the police department. I think it’s needed, I think we will have some results,” said Leroy Thorpe, who founded Citizen Organized Patrol Efforts, a group that patrols the streets of Chinatown doing violence prevention work.
“With the mayor being in power so long, I think she’s kinda used to how things are going. And I think Donald Trump really wants to clean it up. And I’m all for it,” another group member, Jesse McKnight, said.
“These kids are getting out of hand. They been out of hand. Something has to be done. Too many people dying out here, too many innocent people,” COPE volunteer Cheryl Watson said.
DC leaders react to Trump federalizing police
For D.C. residents, “access to democracy is tenuous,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference Monday afternoon. District residents fight in wars, pay taxes and uphold the duties of citizenship but – because D.C is not a state – are denied the rights of other Americans, the mayor said.
The D.C. Council criticized the takeover of the police department, saying there is no federal emergency.
“This is a manufactured intrusion on local authority,” Council members said in a statement.
“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,” the statement read in part.
D.C.’s police union said it supports Trump’s action.
“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,” the union said in part in a statement.
The union called on Congress and the White House to repeal “misguided” crime laws the Council has passed in recent years.
“The temporary federal takeover is a necessary step to stabilize the situation, but it is not a long-term solution. The real path forward lies in addressing the root causes of the MPD’s challenges, particularly the need for adequate staffing and the reversal of harmful legislation.”
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb called the administration’s actions “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.”
“We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents,” Schwalb said in a post on X.
Longtime D.C. statehood champion Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton called Trump’s actions “counterproductive, potentially dangerous, and an egregious assault on D.C. home rule.”
“President Trump’s decision to federalize MPD and activate the D.C. National Guard to address crime is an historic assault on D.C. home rule, is a counterproductive, escalatory seizure of D.C.’s resources to use for purposes not supported by D.C. residents, and is more evidence of the urgent need to pass my D.C. statehood bill,” she said in part in a statement.
Holmes Norton and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, said they’ll reintroduce legislation in September to grant D.C. full control over the D.C. National Guard and police.
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