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Trump Orders Temporary Federal Takeover of DC Police as Homicides Fall

The executive order cites rising violence despite MPD data showing homicides dropped by 32% in 2024.

A D.C. Metropolitian Police Department officer stands by before a rally near the White House, Aug. 11, 2025 before President Donald Trump ordered a federal takeover of the department. The president has increasingly criticized crime in Washington even as it’s reached a 30-year low.
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President Donald Trump shows crime statistics as he delivers remarks during a press conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House August 11 in Washington, DC.

Overview

  • The Aug. 11 executive order deploys National Guard troops and federal agents to supplement the Metropolitan Police Department under a temporary federal policing surge.
  • MPD data report a 35% decrease in violent crime and a drop from 274 homicides in 2023 to 187 in 2024, with preliminary figures showing another 26% decline through Aug. 8, 2025.
  • Independent analyses from the FBI’s UCR, AH Datalytics and the Council on Criminal Justice corroborate sustained declines in violent crime since the summer 2023 spike.
  • The D.C. police officers’ union has alleged unproven data reclassification to understate crime, triggering scrutiny of local reporting practices.
  • Despite improvement, Washington’s 2024 murder rate of 25.5 per 100,000 remains among the highest in large U.S. cities even as raw homicide counts in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia exceeded D.C.’s last year.