When President Trump announced Monday that the federal government would take control of Washington’s police department, he described the move as necessary to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor.”
But in the more than six months since taking office, Mr. Trump’s actions, and in some cases inaction, have hobbled Washington’s efforts to reduce crime, drawing complaints from city leaders who say he is now trying to solve a problem that he has actually made worse.
City officials point to vacancies at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and on the Superior Court — staffing controlled by the federal government — as well as budget cuts of more than $1 billion as examples of how Mr. Trump has made it more difficult for law enforcement officials to combat crime. And while city leaders readily admit they have work to do to improve public safety, they argue that Mr. Trump’s picture of Washington as a dystopian hellscape is far from the reality.
“From having our courts be less able to hear and try and render justice to our ability to prosecute cases, the administration has absolutely harmed the District’s ability,” said Charles Allen, a Democratic member of the District of Columbia Council. “Now despite that of course, the city has done incredible work, I think, over the last two years as we have been able to lower violent crime significantly.”
He added, “We don’t see sincerity or consistency in anything coming out of this administration.”
Despite Mr. Trump’s claims that Washington “has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,” most categories of violent crime peaked in 2023 and have been falling since. In 2025, violent crime has fallen about 26 percent compared with the same time period last year, while homicides have dropped about 11 percent.
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The post As Trump Seizes D.C.’s Police, Critics Say He’s Undercut Its Ability to Fight Crime appeared first on New York Times.
