The DC crime rate has plummeted during the thirty days since President Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., deployed the National Guard and federalized the DC police.
Carjackings dropped by 87% during the first 20 days of the operation compared with the same period in 2024.
Police statistics show violent crime fell 17%, property crime 18%, and motor vehicle theft 35% compared to the prior 30 days.
Since the deployment, Washington has recorded seven homicides, well below this year’s monthly average of more than 12.
Authorities have reported 2,177 arrests, including 20 gang members, and seized 222 firearms. T
hey also rescued seven missing children and cleared 50 homeless encampments.
On a single day in early September, law enforcement made 57 arrests, 14 involving migrants with prior criminal records, and seized eight firearms.
Trump’s emergency authority over local police is set to expire, though the National Guard will remain in Washington through November unless he ends the order sooner.
The deployment costs about $1 million per day, but its impact has been significant.
Critics in the media and among liberal Democrats argue the takeover was unnecessary because crime in D.C. was already low. In reality, D.C. crime statistics were systematically manipulated for years before the federal intervention.
Both the Justice Department and Congress have launched investigations into whether Metropolitan Police officials deliberately altered crime data to create a false illusion of safety.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer cited “disturbing allegations and whistleblower disclosures” in opening a probe.
Evidence of manipulation is extensive. D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton described commanders ordering officers to downgrade serious crimes like shootings, stabbings, and carjackings to lesser offenses such as theft or “injured person to the hospital.”
Whistleblower evidence backs these claims. Former MPD sergeant Charlotte Djossou sued the department in 2020, producing internal emails, depositions, and transcripts showing police brass repeatedly pressured officers to downgrade violent crimes.
The city quietly settled her lawsuit in August 2025.
Numerous cases show how far the manipulation went. In one, a woman suffered a deep cut across her face, but the incident was recorded as “sick person to the hospital” instead of assault with a dangerous weapon.
Internal Affairs also found directives to classify shoplifting as “Taking Property Without Right” (TPWOR), creating a 500% spike in TPWOR cases that were excluded from public crime data.
This pattern of systematic downgrading means that official statistics likely understate the true impact of Trump’s federal crackdown.
Independent research further contradicts official statistics.
A Council on Criminal Justice study found Washington, D.C., had the highest “lethality level” in the country, with the chances of dying during a violent crime up 38% in 2024 compared to 2018, and 341% higher than in 2012.
This suggests that while reported violent crime appeared to decrease, the severity and deadliness of the crimes that did occur rose dramatically.
As expected, the liberal media are attacking the president.
They have ignored clear evidence of crime data manipulation and instead pushed the false narrative that D.C. crime is at a 30-year low, something residents know is untrue.
NPR has chosen to focus on immigration arrests, which make up a significant share of total arrests in the city, portraying them as proof of failure by federal law enforcement.
The media repeatedly stress that 70% of those detained by ICE lack criminal convictions, but a conviction follows an arrest, not the other way around.
Many of those arrested do, in fact, have pending charges, yet the Trump administration has prioritized expediting deportations by dropping charges without prejudice. This ensures illegal immigrants are removed quickly, but leaves no conviction on record.
The truth is that no conviction is required for either an arrest or a deportation.
These individuals are in violation of immigration law, and by removing them from the streets, the Trump administration is preventing crime, even if the media refuse to acknowledge it.
Liberal media are harping on the fact that D.C. only ranks in the top ten in the nation for crime, suggesting the president is wrong to focus on it. But they need not worry for long.
Trump is already considering expanding the program to Boston, New York, and especially Chicago, which continues to suffer from appallingly high crime rates.
