Trump federalizes DC police despite 29% crime drop, stripping local control

President Trump signed Executive Order 14333 on Aug. 11, 2025, invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973 to place the Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control. It was the first invocation of Section 740 in the law's 52-year history. Trump declared a "crime emergency" in D.C. and named DEA Administrator Terry Cole as "interim commissioner" of MPD.

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an order on Aug. 14 attempting to install Cole as "Emergency Police Commissioner" with full command over MPD's 3,800-officer force, ordering that Police Chief Pamela Smith would need Cole's approval before issuing any directives. DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed suit on Aug. 15, alleging Cole's appointment violated Section 740 because the statute doesn't authorize the president to displace the police chief or assert full operational control of MPD. DOJ and Schwalb reached a compromise the same day: Cole was redesignated as Bondi's "designee" rather than emergency chief, and Smith retained operational command under Mayor Bowser.

Trump's stated justification — that D.C. suffered from "crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor" — contradicted his own Justice Department's data. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced in January 2025 that D.C. violent crime fell 35% in 2024, reaching its lowest level in more than 30 years. MPD's July 28, 2025 report showed violent crime down another 26% year-to-date. Homicides were down 27% across the 2024-2025 period.

Within a month of EO 14333, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the District were patrolling D.C. streets under command of the Secretary of the Army. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist in patrols. The states providing troops were all led by Republican governors. The Brennan Center noted those states had 10 cities with higher crime rates than Washington, D.C.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled in November 2025 that Trump lacked statutory authority to deploy out-of-state National Guard units in D.C. without the mayor's consent, finding the action violated the Constitution and illegally intruded on local officials' authority. She placed her order on hold for 21 days to allow appeal. An appellate court allowed the deployment to continue pending that appeal, and the National Guard presence was extended through 2026.

Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act permits the president to direct the mayor to provide MPD services for "federal purposes" — protecting federal buildings, national monuments, and federal property — for up to 30 days, after which Congress must pass a joint resolution to extend the authority. The president must notify congressional leaders within 48 hours. Trump notified Congress within the window, and Republicans in Congress subsequently sought extensions. Schwalb argued, and Cobb's ruling affirmed, that Section 740 does not authorize the president to seize operational control of MPD or direct it in local crime enforcement.

D.C.'s 705,749 residents voted 90% for Kamala Harris in November 2024. They hold no voting representation in Congress, meaning they had no recourse through the normal legislative process to block the takeover or the National Guard deployment extensions. The District's unique constitutional status — it is not a state and its residents lack Senate representation — makes it structurally vulnerable to federal override of its locally elected government in ways that residents of any state would not face.

FactCheck.org and PolitiFact documented Trump's specific crime claims as false or misleading. Trump wrongly claimed D.C. murders reached their highest rate ever in 2023. The actual 2023 murder rate was the highest since 2003 — but still roughly half the 1991 peak. Crime analyst Jeff Asher noted violent crime had already dropped 34% in the two weeks ending June 29, 2025, before the federal intervention began, undermining the administration's claim that the takeover caused the crime reduction.

Georgetown Law professor Steve Vladeck explained on PBS NewsHour that while Section 740 gives the president a genuine but narrow legal hook, the administration's implementation went far beyond what the statute authorizes. "The president's powers over the district are constrained by existing statutory frameworks, not unlimited," he said. The administration's initial assertion that Cole replaced Smith as MPD chief — not that he was merely supervising federal operations — exceeded what Section 740's text permits, which is why the Schwalb lawsuit settlement required that redesignation.