Overview

• The settlement preserves Pamela Smith as chief of the MPD while mandating that DEA head Terry Cole channel directives via the mayor’s office.
• All 800 federally mobilized National Guard members are conducting monument security, community patrols, federal-facility protection and traffic control without traditional arrest powers.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi’s order appointing Cole as an emergency police official remains in effect but with curtailed control over local officers.
• Key constitutional and political disputes over D.C. home rule and federal overreach persist despite the court-mediated compromise.
• The administration’s portrayal of rampant crime contrasts with DOJ and MPD figures showing violent offenses at their lowest levels in decades.