United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is putting the local police in the capital under federal control and added that he is deploying the National Guard to address what he called an “emergency in public safety.”
Trump claimed that Washington, D.C., “has been taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roaming mobs of wild youth, drugged maniacs and homeless people, and we will no longer allow this.”
“This is a day of liberation in Washington, and we will take back our capital. We are taking it back,” Trump said, adding that he is placing the Metropolitan Police Department “under direct federal control.”
“I am deploying the National Guard to help restore law and order and public safety in Washington, and they will be allowed to properly do their job,” he added.
However, the president’s claims about rising crime in the capital are in sharp contrast with the official crime data in the city.
Washington, D.C. police reported a 26 percent decrease in violent crime compared to the same period in 2024. There was a further seven percent decrease in property crimes, such as burglaries and thefts.
Trump had earlier claimed that these figures were “fake.”
