Muriel Bowser said falling carjackings, gun use, homicides, and robberies make neighborhoods safer, and the federal takeover has been integral to that progress.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Aug. 27 that crime has decreased since President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to the city and took federal control of the local police department.
Bowser told reporters during an update on the enforcement surge that she and her officials “greatly appreciate” the added presence of law enforcement, noting that in just 20 days, the number of carjackings had fallen by 87 percent from the same period last year.
“We know that when carjackings go down, when the use of guns goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer, ” Bowser said. “So this surge has been important to us for that reason.”
She said that the district will continue to need more police, prosecutors, judges, and “more effective prevention programs.”
“And we need to ensure local control,” she said.
Bowser also said on Aug. 27 that having masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the community “has not worked.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in July—when Los Angeles County supervisors sought to ban law enforcement personnel from covering their faces—that ICE officers wear masks to protect themselves from being doxxed and targeted.
Trump announced on Aug. 11 that he would activate hundreds of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital to deal with crime.
The president invoked Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act of 1973, which places the Metropolitan Police Department under the control of the president for 48 hours. The president can extend that control for up to 30 days with notification to Congress, after which congressional approval is required.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,” Trump said at a White House press briefing at the time. “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”
Bowser, at the time, called the federal takeover unsettling and reiterated her call for full statehood for Washington.
