‘Bloodthirsty criminals’: Trump seizes control of Washington police, deploys National Guard
By Michael Koziol
Washington: Early one evening in May, Scott Novak was cycling from the gym to his home in north-east Washington, DC, when he was set upon by a gang of youths.
The group of 12 to 15 people – all teenagers, in his estimate – broke out from their huddle to form a chain blocking the street. He tried to avoid them by veering towards the footpath, but “one of them got me and knocked me down, and my head hit a tree”.
Scott Novak, 31, was attacked by a gang in Washington, DC, in May. The lawyer and registered Democrat opposes Donald Trump’s “very scary” takeover of policing in the city.
Novak, 31, sustained facial abrasions and a large cut above his left eye that required 13 stitches. His assailants managed to swipe the bike – a city rental – but didn’t get away with any of his possessions.
This is the exact kind of criminal episode US President Donald Trump seemed to have in mind on Monday, as he announced a dramatic takeover of policing in the US capital.
Declaring a “crime emergency”, Trump will also deploy 800 members of the National Guard to the streets of Washington – just as he did to quell anti-government protests in Los Angeles in June.
“You people are victims of it too,” he told reporters during a rare appearance in the White House press briefing room.
“You don’t want to get mugged and raped and shot and killed. You all know people and friends of yours that happened [to].
“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people. And we’re not going to let it happen any more, we’re not going to take it.”
Protests sprang up in the city decrying Trump’s plans. People held signs saying “free DC” and “resist tyranny”.
The New York Times reported about 150 people gathered a block north of the White House, protesting what they said was the president’s latest attempt to assert control over the city.
Protesters demonstrate in front of the White House on Monday against Trump’s plans.Credit: AP
Trump was “trying to annex DC from the White House”, Lisa Walker, a Maryland resident who said she taught in Washington public schools for 15 years, told the Times. She carried a homemade sign reading: “Free DC. No Police State.”
But at the White House, Trump’s team issued charts alleging Washington had a higher homicide rate than Baghdad, Bogota and Mexico City, which the president branded “the worst places on Earth”.
Like many US cities, Washington has historically had problems with homicide, robbery, carjacking, assault and other crimes.
There have been high-profile examples this year: the shooting of Israeli embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May, or last week, the bashing of a prominent Department of Government Efficiency aide, Edward Coristine, also known as “Big Balls”.
But statistics from the DC Metropolitan Police show violent crime is trending down after spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic and into 2023.
So far in 2025, homicides are down 12 per cent compared with this time in 2024, assault with a dangerous weapon is down 20 per cent, and robbery is down 28 per cent.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said Trump’s view of Washington was coloured by the experience of his first term amid the Black Lives Matter protests and later COVID crime wave.
“It was true that those were more challenging times,” she said. “We have been able to reverse that 2023 crime spike. Crime isn’t just down from 2023, it’s also down from 2019. We’re at a 30-year violent crime low, [but] we’re not satisfied, we haven’t taken our foot off the gas.”
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser hit back at Trump, saying violent crime was at a 30-year low.Credit: AP
The District of Columbia, home to the federal government and national monuments, occupies an unusual place in the union. The US Constitution gives Congress power over the “seat of government”, but the bulk of that was delegated to a city council under the Home Rule Act of 1973. Despite being more populous than two US states, DC has no voting representation in Congress, only a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives.
The Home Rule Act allows the president to take over the DC police in emergencies for up to 30 days, after which he would need congressional approval. Trump has appointed the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, as interim police chief, and jokingly warned he would sack Cole in two weeks if he was “too soft”.
George Derek Musgrove, a historian at the University of Maryland who wrote a book on Washington’s history, said the present circumstances did not constitute a real emergency – but Trump did have the power to decide.
“Unfortunately, for the city’s sake, the law leaves the determination of whether the city is experiencing an emergency or not to the president,” Musgrove told this masthead.
National Guard troops and the US Capitol Police keep watch on the Capitol in March 2021 amid heightened security.Credit: AP
“The president has already shown his willingness to lie about conditions on the ground in the city to get his way.”
Novak, a lawyer and registered Democrat who is still recovering from his injuries sustained in May, is against Trump taking over the police and deploying the Guard.
He said it was ironic that Congress had cut $US1 billion ($1.54 billion) from DC’s budget just as Trump was pressuring the district to get tougher on crime.
“It seems like they’re trying to create an emergency that they want to use federal force to solve,” he said.
A rally in front of the White House on Monday.Credit: Bloomberg
“Historically, this is what fascist governments have done – take national control over enforcement that’s supposed to be at the local level. That’s very scary.”
When Novak was attacked, the police were nearby – out of sight, but close enough to hear his screams. But the neighbours who came to his aid were more helpful than the officers, he said.
He believes better police training is warranted, not brute force. “I still go out. I still generally feel safe when I go out,” he said.
“Like any city, there are areas that could be improved. But overall, I’m very proud to live in the district, and feel that it already is a very beautiful city – despite whatever’s on the news that they’re trying to magnify.”
California National Guard in downtown Los Angeles in June.Credit: AP
Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, also invoked the spectre of the January 6 riots, in which Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bid to overturn the result of the 2020 election – encouraged by the then outgoing president.
“Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department, and zero credibility on the issue of law and order,” Jeffries said.
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