D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said Tuesday that his office’s first instinct isn’t to a file a lawsuit in response to President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the city’s police department, instead emphasizing it is watching to see who is running day-to-day operations at the local agency.
Schwalb said violent crime has been going down in D.C. since he was elected in 2023 and that Trump’s comments about crime in the city are “not consistent with the facts on the ground here.”
Schwalb’s comments come as city leaders grapple with how to respond to the administration’s decision to invoke the Home Rule Act.
There are limited circumstances in which the law can be invoked, and there has to be a special emergency, Schwalb said. It’s limited in duration and has to be for a federal purpose rather than a local policing reason, he said.
“Running into court is not the first thing that we think about doing,” Schwalb told WTOP. “In the event we have to seek judicial relief from a court, we will do so. But the most important thing to do is to try to see that the laws are complied with.”
At a White House press briefing Monday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said about 850 officers and agents “were surged across the city.” They made 23 arrests, for things such as homicide, firearms offenses, fare evasion, lewd acts, stalking, possession of a high capacity magazine and driving under the influence, among other things.
A White House official said they’re not specifying what agency made which particular arrests, and instead provided a list of participating agencies over the course of the operation.
Meanwhile, Schwalb said he’s watching closely “to see that our chief maintains control over the command and operations of MPD, and that the law is being complied with.”
On Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser said Police Chief Pamela Smith remained in charge of the agency.
“The threat to take control over the local policing at MPD is not going to make D.C. safer,” Schwalb said. “There are many things the president and Congress could do to help drive crime down, if that’s what they want to focus on doing — I hope that’s what they will focus on doing — but a takeover of MPD is not one of them.”
Schwalb’s office mainly prosecutes juvenile crime, and the U.S. Attorney for D.C. prosecutes adults.
Asked if he anticipates Monday’s announcement would change the collaboration between the two offices, Schwalb said it’s a relationship where “it requires the U.S. attorney to be committed to partnership with the District of Columbia, and I see no reason to expect that the U.S. Attorney’s Office won’t continue to do what we’ve been doing together for many years.”
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