By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The standoff over control of Washington’s police force is intensifying tonight.
President Donald Trump is moving to keep federal authority in place beyond the 30 days allowed under Section 740 of the District’s Home Rule Act.
The Home Rule Act of 1973 grants emergency powers to the federal government for up to 30 days. It’s the first time in the Home Rule Act’s history that a president has assumed control of the city’s police force.
National Guard troops fanned out across the city Wednesday evening and Thursday as part of Trump’s aggressive crime crackdown that he now wants to extend.
“Long term extensions because you can’t have 30 days,” Trump said Wednesday. “We’re going to want extensions. I don’t want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will… We’re going to need a crime bill that we’re going to be putting in, and it’s going to pertain initially to D.C.,” Trump added.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser fired back this week, accusing the president of undermining the city’s autonomy.
“Make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push,” Bowser said.
When speaking with locals and visitors, attitudes are mixed. Some welcome the intervention, some do not, and others believe the resources should be directed to areas and neighborhoods with higher crime rates.
“This might be more of a distraction against the Jeffrey Epstein thing in order to create news- so to distract from other news,” said Dave H., a Rockville, Maryland, resident who preferred not to share his last name.
Although Dave lives in the Maryland suburbs, he is no stranger to the District, where he says crime rates have been dropping steadily.
“There’s been a trend for that to continue,” he said.
So far, the National Guard and federal law enforcement have been spotted largely in tourist areas like the National Mall, Union Station and Georgetown — all locations that many locals say are not where resources should be directed.
“This is not the area where crime is rampant,” Dave said outside of Union Station. “This becomes a show of force that doesn’t have any underlying real impacts.”
“Been here a day and it seems alright so far,” said Mike Imana, who is traveling from Essex, England. “I feel pretty safe. But it’s daytime. I don’t know what happens here at night.”
It’s Imana’s first day in D.C. after making the trip from England. So far, no red flags- except for adjusting to something he’s not used to seeing in England.
“Usually the police, as you know, in England, go around unarmed. So I think it takes a bit of getting used to see everybody carrying pistols and things here,” Imana said.
With that looming request for Congress to extend the federal takeover, Washington is bracing for what could be a historic — and controversial — power struggle over who polices the nation’s capital and potentially other cities where the president says crime is out of control.
Many Republicans in Congress have already said they’re willing to help the president with the extension request for D.C.
