WASHINGTON — DC Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said Tuesday that local and federal law enforcement “are here to work together” to implement President Trump’s Monday directive federalizing her 3,400-officer force.
Smith and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, an elected Democrat, visited the Justice Department Tuesday morning for meetings with their new law enforcement supervisors, including Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole, who will oversee the MPD.
Bowser told reporters she wanted to see “how to make the most of the additional officer support” — as the White House supplements MPD officers with a surge in law enforcement personnel from federal agencies including the Border Patrol, the FBI, the DEA and US Park Police.
National Guard members will also have a presence on the streets of the capital, despite not being empowered to make arrests.
Although Bowser clashed with Trump during his first term over policing matters, she said Tuesday that she wants to make sure that National Guard members and federal law enforcement are “being well used … to drive down crime.”
“We have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,” the mayor said.
Smith was optimistic after the meeting with Cole, saying outside the Justice Department that “I think this is going to be a good effort.”
The police chief said she was particularly interested in federal help to get “illegal guns” off the streets.
“We are here to work together with our federal partners,” she added, mentioning too that federal help could be used for “pockets of crime we would like to address.”
Trump’s Monday announcement federalizing the MPD is allowed for up to 30 days under the Home Rule Act of 1973, which allowed the district limited self-governance.
Congress must act to extend the federalization of the DC police force beyond 30 days.
In his Monday announcement, Trump cited a string of high-profile local crimes and scoffed at Bowser’s insistence that official data show violent crime is at 30-year lows, pointing to a local scandal that erupted last month over alleged pressure from MPD leaders on local district commanders to falsify crime data.
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