Washington, Aug 11 (EFE).- United States President Donald Trump announced Monday that the federal government will take control of the Washington, DC police and activate National Guard troops as part of a campaign to control crime and “take our capital back.”
The president announced at a White House press conference with members of his cabinet that he was invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, placing the Washington Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control.
This provision of the Home Rule Act, which has governed Washington’s home rule since 1973, allows the president to assume emergency control of the Metropolitan Police Force in specific circumstances.
At a press conference from the White House, the president placed the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police under the control of Attorney General Pam Bondi and appointed Drug Enforcement Administration Director Terry Cole as interim police commissioner.
“The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia, Mexico City, some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on Earth, much higher,” he added.
The president based his argument on graphs showing the murder rate for 2024, which show that Washington, with 27.54 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, leads the ranking and is followed by the next city, Bogotá (15.1 per 100,000), and ahead of others capitals such as Mexico City, Islamabad, Lima, Ottawa, Paris, and Havana.
In Washington, violent crime has fallen by 26% so far this year and homicides by 12%, to a 30-year-low in 2024, and was down 35% compared to 2023, according to a report by the Justice Department released in January.
Local media had already reported that the Pentagon was preparing some 800 National Guard troops in advance of Trump’s plans. EFE
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