More than four months after President Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington, federal officers remain deeply involved in policing the city. As National Guard troops dressed in camouflage create the most visible federal presence, less-seen squads of federal police agents continue to patrol the streets alongside local officers.
About a third of arrests in recent weeks examined by The Washington Post involved federal law enforcement, nearly matching the portion of federally assisted arrests during the first four weeks of Trump’s crackdown in D.C. that began in August, The Post found. The figures don’t include more than 1,100 people picked up by immigration officers in the city from early August to mid-October.
Arrest reports show agents with the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations and other federal agencies riding in unmarked cars alongside D.C. Metropolitan Police officers, often stopping people on minor infractions in an effort to find drugs or guns.
On the evening of Dec. 12, in a typical encounter, federal agents working alongside a D.C. police “robbery suppression unit” passed people gathered in front of an apartment building in Southeast Washington. The investigators noticed a young man begin walking away as he realized an unmarked car carried officers, according to a D.C. officer who later detailed the incident in an arrest report.
As the man tried to go inside the apartment building, officers stopped him and patted him down, suspicious he was hiding a handgun in his waistband. They found one, the report said, and arrested the 20-year-old for carrying a pistol without a license and possessing an unregistered firearm.
The Post has gathered more than 6,000 arrest reports filed in D.C. Superior Court since Trump’s crackdown began with a 30-day federal takeover of D.C. police. While arrests involving federal officers occur across all eight city wards, they are most heavily concentrated in neighborhoods that have historically experienced higher levels of poverty and violent crime. Many also have occurred in low-crime areas highly visible to the president and tourists, such as around the National Mall, the White House and Union Station.
D.C. police did not respond to questions about how collaboration with federal agents has changed since the end of the crime emergency. Daniel Gleick, a spokesman for the mayor, declined to answer questions about the persisting presence of federal law enforcement on D.C. streets or what residents can expect in the new year.
D.C. police data show violent crime in the District is down 29 percent compared to this time last year and 54 percent compared to 2023, when Pamela A. Smith was appointed police chief amid a generational spike in violence.
National Guard members, while perhaps serving as a crime deterrent, have participated directly in few arrests, and their participation has consisted mainly of briefly detaining suspects during unfolding incidents until federal agents or local police officers arrive.
As of Dec. 15, there were 2,527 Guard members in the city from 10 states and the D.C. National Guard. Their presence has prompted a legal challenge from D.C.’s attorney general. An appeals court on Dec. 17 allowed the troops to remain while litigation continues.
Last month, a Guard member was killed and another critically wounded by a gunman authorities identified as an Afghan national who targeted them.
Homicides have fallen 31 percent year to date, putting the city on pace to have the fewest killings since 2017. And D.C. police are arresting more suspected killers. Data shows that they’ve closed roughly four homicide cases for every five they’ve opened this year. If that persists through the end of the year, it would mark the city’s highest homicide case clearance rate in over a decade.
Smith announced her resignation this month, citing a desire to spend more time with her family, and since then a leaked draft of a Justice Department report and a Republican-led congressional investigation have accused her of creating a “coercive culture of fear” that may have incentivized subordinates to manipulate crime statistics — allegations she has fiercely denied.
Violent crime in D.C. reached a 30-year low last year, before Trump’s crackdown, according to D.C. police data. Multiple current and former D.C. police officers interviewed by The Post said they believe that crime is significantly down, even as some questioned whether all crimes were classified accurately.
Trump, meanwhile, claimed credit on social media as early as September for transforming D.C. from “one of the most dangerous and murder ridden cities” in the world to a place with “virtually NO CRIME.”
Some in the city say they feel safer with the increased presence of federal officers. Among them is Jamaal Maurice Pearsall, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in the Hillcrest and Naylor Gardens area, near Southeast Washington’s border with Maryland.
“Hillcrest has been a community where we’ve championed and pushed [the city] for more police,” he said. “We’ve been asking for 3 or 4 years for more D.C. police. It’s only after the federal surge that we got that.”
The department’s ranks have shrunk to half-century lows. It employs 3,188 sworn officers, with many working long overtime hours. Bowser has set a goal of 4,000 officers.
Arrest reports show federal agents and local police in Hillcrest have often stopped or chased drivers operating cars that were reported stolen or had false tags. In other instances, officers initiated traffic stops for infractions like tinted windows then found drugs.
Pearsall said the stepped-up enforcement is not a perfect solution. He’s glad the area is getting public safety resources the community has long asked for. But he’s concerned Black and Brown youth are being racially profiled.
The Post was unable to review arrests of juveniles, which are confidential by law. The analysis also excluded people arrested on charges of domestic violence, records of which are not available online.
Others who live or work in D.C. neighborhoods that experience the greatest share of shooting and homicides saidthey were skeptical of an increased presence of federal officers, and that they would prefer the government invest in longer-term solutions like more after-school activities, better-paying jobs and drug treatment programs for young people. In some cases, residents said the federal surge is fraying community trust in police.
And even as crime has dropped during Trump’s crackdown, many in D.C. question the motives of a president who, upon taking office, pardoned many people convicted of violently attacking police officers with flag poles, fists, stolen police shields, Tasers and chemical spray during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The president is using crime as an excuse to try to take control of D.C. and run the city in line with his far-right agenda,” said Ankit Jain, a voting rights lawyer who serves as one of D.C.’s two shadow senators, who are elected locally to lobby for the District to become a state.
“He is not doing this for us,” Jain said of Trump. “He is doing this to us.”
Alongside the crackdown, congressional Republicans have sought to tighten their grip on the city, introducing dozens of bills this year that would touch aspects of local life from policing to park maintenance.
Among the bills, one would establish a commission, helmed by someone of Trump’s choosing, tasked with developing policies to maximize enforcement of federal immigration law in the District. Other stated priorities include tackling fare evasion on public transportation and assisting local police with recruitment. The U.S. Park Police is seeking to double its ranks in D.C. over the next six months, and the agency has loosened restrictions on car chases.
Smith and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser have faced local criticism as federal immigration authorities have continued to work alongside D.C. police. Some of the arrest reports gathered by The Post confirm that link, noting Customs and Border Protection agents as among those coordinating with local officers.
smi has walked a fine line during Trump’s crackdown, trying to prevent a complete federal takeover of the city. This summer, she avoided provoking Trump’s ire, laying the groundwork to allow Trump’s emergency order to take federal control of D.C. police to end after 30 days without the president trying to extend or repeat it. Behind the scenes, the mayor has worked to appease Trump. In September, she issued an executive order requiring local coordination with federal law enforcement “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.”
Bowser and other local leaders have praised the partnership with agencies such as the FBI and criticized the inclusion of Homeland Security agencies in the joint operations aimed at deterring crime.
Asked last month at a news conference about a video showing ICE arresting a man, Bowser said: “Our intent is that they are not part of the task force, the federal task force that we work with. It will be the decision of the federal government to separate them and to separate them as soon as possible.”
Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told Vanity Fair recently the administration’s strategy for D.C. was to “right the ship and then slowly back off.”
The White House did not directly address questions from The Post this week about whether that meant the surge would soon be winding down and about their crime-fighting plans more broadly in the city. Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that federal agents continue to work with local officers to “ensure the long-term success of the operation.”
In October, Trump on social media encouraged applicants to join the Make D.C. Safe Task Force as federal agents, pitching it as an opportunity to “be at the cutting edge of defending our Nation’s Capital.” The White House did not respond to a question about the number of applications received thus far.
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