D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser hailed a drop in crime across D.C. — which she credited to the influx of federal law enforcement officials in the District — but expressed concerns over city residents’ lack of trust in law enforcement at a press conference Wednesday.
In an update on the surge in federal presence in the District, Bowser said there has been a “significant” decrease in carjackings, along with an overall decrease in violent crime and increase in Metropolitan Police Department arrests that she attributed to the influx in federal law enforcement officers in the city. The announcement comes right before the 20 day mark of President Donald Trump’s invocation of Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act, placing MPD under federal control and deploying a surge of federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops in the city.
“The federal surge has had a significant increase on crime in Washington, D.C., and we greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city,” Bowser said.
Overall crime has decreased by 15 percent since the surge began on Aug. 11, according to a presentation from Bowser’s Wednesday press conference. Officials saw the largest decrease in carjackings, which dropped 87 percent since Aug. 7.
Bowser said the surge of officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Park and Capitol police officers — excluding the National Guard — has helped reduce crime across the city, a departure from her previous comments which called Trump’s actions “unsettling and unprecedented” when he first announced the takeover.
“We know that when carjackings go down, when the use of guns go down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer,” Bowser said. “So this surge has been important to us.”
In the same time period, violent crime, which includes homicide, sex abuse, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery, dropped 45 percent. Property crimes, like burglary, motor vehicle theft and theft, dropped 12 percent.
MPD arrests have increased as well in the past 20 days, shooting up by 20 percent. Calls for service through 911 and 311 increased by 18 percent, something Deputy Mayor Lindsey Appiah encouraged the D.C. population to continue doing when they need help. As of Monday, there have been over 1,000 arrests in the District since the takeover began.
Bowser provided an overview of what city officials believe has and has not worked as a result of the surge, along with what officials believe D.C. still needs. She said the increased law enforcement presence was deterring crime in the city, but officers needed to work to build trust within the community and condemned the deployment of masked agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and National Guard troops from other states.
As a part of the takeover, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered Aug. 14 that MPD suspend its policies on limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement officials. ICE officials have been accompanying MPD officers on moped traffic stops, detaining and deporting delivery drivers if they are in the United States illegally. The administration said over 300 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in the District since the takeover.
Bowser emphasized that having masked ICE agents in D.C. has not worked and repeatedly said she is sorry for D.C.’s Hispanic and Latino communities that are now living in fear of detentions and deportations.
“What we know is not working is a break in trust between police and community, especially with new federal partners in our community, we know having masked ICE agents in the community has not worked, and National Guards from other states have not been an efficient use of those resources,” Bowser said.
Bowser also said the presence of National Guard troops is also not working for the city but did not highlight any other concerns with the nearly 2,000 troops patrolling D.C.
As of Wednesday, governors from Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia have sent 1,100 National Guard troops to saturate the already 800 troops patrolling the city.
The further influx of National Guard troops comes as the Defense Department authorized troops to begin carrying firearms, only to be used as a last resort or in self defense.
Trump said the takeover was to “liberate” D.C. from violent crime, despite overall crime dropping 35 percent in 2024 in the city. On Monday, the House Oversight Committee announced an investigation into whether or not D.C. officials manipulated crime data to make crime rates appear lower.
Bowser said addressing homeless encampments and unhoused people not living in shelters is “the most difficult” human services project in the city, but officials are working to encourage unhoused people to voluntarily accept services. She said city officials believe D.C.’s shelter system can accommodate everyone that needs access.
Trump said as part of the takeover he was going to end homelessness in D.C., leading to federal and District officials clearing dozens of encampments across the city. On Aug. 15 officials cleared three encampments near Washington Circle, a day after officials cleared an encampment on the I-66 ramp in Foggy Bottom.
According to data from the January point-in-time Count, D.C.’s annual census of unhoused people, there was a 9 percent decrease in the number of unhoused people in 2024, with an 18.1 percent decrease in families experiencing homelessness and a 4.5 percent decrease in single adults experiencing homelessness.
The census’s results counted 5,138 individuals experiencing homelessness across the city, emphasizing that most residents use shelters. Bowser said around 81 residents have entered the shelter system since the surge but said it is unclear whether or not those were residents who previously lived in tents or encampments that came to the system after officials conducted clearings.
Bowser also announced officials will be conducting another emergency point-in-time count slated to start Thursday, looking to find the number of tents remaining in the city, how many live in those tents and the number of unhoused people not living in tents or shelters.
Bowser said she had been in contact with Trump, along with his Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Bondi but did not disclose what was discussed in those meetings.
Bowser said D.C. officials have established an “emergency operations center” that is in contact with federal officials and helps to manage the surge in federal law enforcement officers in the city. She said the center can also help manage other activities from the president’s task force created in March focused on making D.C. “safe and beautiful.”
Bowser said that the city needs about 500 more police officers shooting for a target of around 3,800 to 4,000 law enforcement personnel at the MPD, a number the department has aimed for for decades to properly address crime. The current officer number for fiscal year 2025 sits at 3,189 — the lowest its been since at least 1999 — according to slides presented at Bowser’s press conference.
City administrator Kevin Donahue said that due to general national trends in hiring law enforcement and D.C.-specific budget cuts, the department has had to reduce the number of officers at the MPD since the FY2008 peak of 4,051 officers.
Appiah said the MPD has begun working to reverse the employment dip, introducing incentives like hiring bonuses and take-home cars, for example.
“So we continue to do that work to stabilize and to increase our core strength,” Appiah said.
Bowser did not directly say whether or not the president would respect the 30-day maximum for the invocation of Section 740. When asked multiple times, she reiterated her statements on the city’s need for increased law enforcement, adding that city officials will be prepared for influxes of federal officials focusing on the beautification of D.C. Congress would need to approve any extensions to the time period.
“When that time period expires, we will be prepared as a city,” Bowser said.
