Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) admitted that the president’s deployment of troops in the district has lowered crime, leading many liberal lawmakers to respond with anger and scorn.
Bowser related the significant drop in carjackings in the district during a press conference Wednesday, where she said that crime had been dropping before the federal surge but that those officers contributed to the trend.
‘We know that when carjackings go down, when use of gun goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer.’
“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what [the D.C. Municipal Police Department] has been able to do in this city. The most significant thing that we are highlighting today is the area of crime that was most troubling for us in 2023,” said Bowser.
“Now, we have driven it down over the last years, but … for carjackings, the difference between this period, this 20-day period of this federal surge and last year represents a 87% reduction in carjackings in Washington, D.C.,” she added.
“We know that when carjackings go down, when use of guns goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer,” Bowser said. “So this surge has been important to us for that reason.”
She went on to say that she had personally coordinated with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
D.C. Democrats were furious that Bowser had characterized the surge as a positive development.
“We should not, as the District of Columbia, be giving people the impression that this is a good thing, that we are OK with it, that it is helping the city. It is not doing any of those things,” said Democrat Robert White Jr., an at-large council member, on social media. “I am not OK with this. The average resident is not OK with this. D.C. residents, D.C. voters, are not OK with this.”
“Our residents are afraid, hesitant to go out & to work, angry that our limited autonomy is being eroded. There is nothing welcome about this,” said council member Brianne Nadeau, also a Democrat.
Other critics of the president, including Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have accused Trump of militarizing the streets of the U.S. in order to intimidate his political enemies.
The president has indicated that he is looking into sending more troops into crime-riddled cities and named Chicago among those possible recipients of a federal surge.
“We didn’t ask for any federal officers,” said Bowser. “We’re driving crime down, but while they’re here, how can we most strategically use them to accelerate the work that MPD has done? So that’s our point.”
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Washington dc crime, Bowser vs trump, Trump militarization, Federal troop surge, Politics