More federal law enforcement officers will be patrolling D.C. streets over the next coming days to combat crime and, in the words of President Donald Trump’s administration, make the city safe again.
District residents can expect to see the increased presence starting Friday at midnight, according to a statement from White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
“Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long,” Leavitt said. “President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. There will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.”
The boost in police patrols will take place for a week, with an option to extend as needed, Leavitt stated. The Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force’s Law Enforcement Working Group will make up those patrols, Leavitt said. The group includes 15 departments from various agencies including Metro police, U.S. Capitol Police, FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency. It’s not clear where patrols will occur in the city.
In response to Trump’s moves, D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is planning to reintroduce two bills with Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen in the coming days, one to repeal the president’s authority to federalize the MPD and one to give the D.C. mayor control over the D.C. National Guard.
“Sending in the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security officers and others throughout the District in response to an assault where the existing police presence was sufficient to catch two assailants as they were leaving the scene is a disproportionate overreaction that’s offensive to D.C.,” Norton said.
“Moreover, this needless escalation will heighten tensions and potentially make D.C., which achieved its lowest violent crime rate in 30 years in 2024, less safe,” she said.
Secret Service vehicles on the move in D.C.
Reporting live from the District just after 5 a.m., WTOP’s Kyle Cooper said he spotted at least six marked Secret Service vehicles “cruising back and forth” along Lafayette Park and the World War Two Memorial on Constitution Avenue.
“In front of the White House, at least on one of those side entrances — it’s unclear whether it’s different from normal — but there are a couple of officers. Some on bikes, some standing,” he said. “That may be normal, but they are out there visible to the public this morning.”
Cooper detailed that the upped police presence would have a focus on popular tourist areas, such as museums and memorials. Near Union Station, he described seeing federal cruisers parked with their lights on, as some personnel were on foot on the backside of the building.
“I wouldn’t call it overwhelming or something where you go, ‘Wow, look at that,’ but you do see a little bit more in certain areas,” Cooper said, adding that he hadn’t seen a notable spike in federal law enforcement officers inside Union Station.
Trump earlier hinted that the increased patrols were coming earlier this week after an assault of a former member of the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative tasked with slashing federal spending, in Dupont Circle over the weekend.
“We have a capital that’s very unsafe,” Trump said earlier this week. “We have to run D.C. This has to be the best-run place in the country.”
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro also discussed the decision during a news conference to announce hate crime charges in the killing of two Israeli Embassy employees.
“We just have too much crime,” she said.
In 2024, there were 187 homicides in D.C., the lowest number since 2019.
Targeting youth crime
Pirro said the decision was coming from Trump himself, and then took aim at juvenile crime and changes to the criminal code that were enacted by the D.C. Council a few years ago.
“We’re seeing far too much crime being committed by young people,” Pirro said. “Young people are coddled, and they don’t need to be coddled anymore. They need to be held accountable.”
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“They need to understand that enough is enough, and that the D.C. Council has to repeal some of these absurd ordinances and laws that they’ve had passed that do nothing to protect the people of this city and of this District,” she added.
Pirro also brought up the case of 19-year-old Javarry Peaks, who was found guilty of assault after shooting someone on a crowded Metrobus earlier this year. The victim survived, and video obtained by WUSA9 suggests Peaks was being harassed by the victim before the shooting.
Peaks was not sentenced to prison for the shooting, prompting Pirro to repeatedly blast the judge, saying it exemplifies the D.C. Council’s weak stance on crime.
“By the way, he wasn’t a kid. He was 19. These are the rules of the D.C. Council. They’ve got to be changed,” Pirro said. “We’ve got to have the ability to let young people know that they’re going to be accountable.”
While the city has touted declining crime numbers over recent years, including through the first half of 2025, Pirro was more dismissive and unimpressed with the city’s falling murder rate.
“We can talk about crime going down, but going down from where?” she asked.
WTOP’s Thomas Robertson contributed to this report.
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