D.C. Council member Robert White hosted a virtual town hall Monday night, shedding new light on how federal officers and National Guard troops are being deployed in the District.
A D.C. police officer at the meeting talked about how the officers and guard members are being used.
“We very much see this as an enhancement of our normal operations,” said Capt. Jon Dorrough, who is the acting commander for the Seventh District. “Since the inception of MPD, we’ve worked with our federal partners. However, it has been much, much enhanced that we’ve heard the mayor describe it as a ‘surge.'”
Dorrough said the federal partners sent in by President Donald Trump have been deploying with D.C. police on a daily basis.
“Primarily, they’ve been going out with our crime suppression teams, which are our teams that focus on proactive enforcement in the neighborhoods,” he said.
Dorrough said they have been working with their special operations division and traffic units as well.
“With that, you have seen increased levels of enforcement, things like serving warrants, traffic stops, but it is things that we do on a daily basis, just at a higher level,” he said.
When it comes to the National Guard, he said they haven’t had much interaction with them.
“I know there’s a lot of concern about the National Guard. That is not someone that we’ve been partnering with on a day-to-day basis, as far as patrolling or anything of that sort. They are very much focused on securing federal properties and the monuments right now,” he said.
When asked about whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been working with D.C. police on daily operations, Dorrough said they have been out with them.
“They have been deploying with some of our units. So, there is some cooperation on the street, as you might have seen,” he said. “There was an executive order issued by the chief that allows some very limited assistance to ICE, as far as transports.”
When it comes to the information ICE gets, he said they are getting information about who they are arresting.
“If they’re on the scene with us, the identity of folks that are stopped or arrested, they will be privy to that obviously if they’re on the scene with us,” Dorrough said.
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