It has been a strange five days in Washington, where I live.
In a remarkable exertion of his power, President Trump has taken over the city police force and deployed the military to patrol the streets, becoming the first president in history to turn a city of 700,000 people into a laboratory for what he describes as crackdown on crime.
It has put the federal government in the quotidian business of clearing homeless camps and monitoring nightlife, and left residents fearful and unsettled by questions like who can be stopped, and for what — and who is in charge.
Many of the details of Trump’s takeover are vague. What’s become clear, though, is that the administration’s grip on the city has only tightened as the week has worn on, while pushback — both in the courts and on the streets — has begun to intensify.
Here are four takeaways from an extraordinary week.
There was a palpable increase in federal law enforcement on the streets, but few details about the arrests they have made.
Residents of Washington, D.C., are used to the presence of federal law enforcement officials like the Secret Service or the United States Park Police.
But they are not usually used to seeing so many of them, or in quite these roles.
My colleague Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, who has been out nightly covering how Trump is deploying the hundreds of federal officers he has at his command, watched F.BI. agents conducting traffic stops. He observed agents who ordinarily investigate federal weapons violations standing watch as local police officers tried to subdue a disturbed man at a bus stop. They have also cleared homeless camps.
There are scant details, however, about exactly what these officers are doing. The White House is releasing data claiming dozens of arrests per night, but they are not always specifying exactly what crimes the people arrested are accused of committing.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The post 4 Takeaways From the Week Trump Took Control of D.C.’s Police appeared first on New York Times.
