National Guard troops have begun arriving on the streets of Washington DC in a controversial move by Donald Trump to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime”.
The deployment of some of the planned 800 troops comes despite the Washington mayor revealing crime in the capital was at its “lowest level in 30 years” – and with official data also showing a steep decline.
President Trump has promised to take over the district’s police department, something the law allows him to do temporarily.
The army has indicated there were no specific locations for the deployment, according to the Associated Press, citing a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
At the beginning of the week, Mr Trump said he was sending in 800 National Guard troops to “re-establish law, order, and public safety”.
He announced a “historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse”.
But according to preliminary figures from Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police, violent crime is down 26% in 2025 – after dropping 35% in 2024 compared with 2023.
Pic: Reuters
Washington mayor Muriel Bowser said crime was at historic lows in the capital and called the move “unsettling and unprecedented” – but would use the extra personnel to reduce crime further.
And in a post on social media, she wrote: “Violent crime in DC is at its lowest level in 30 years. We had an unacceptable spike in 2023, so we changed our laws and strategies.”
She said the National Guard would not have the power to arrest people.
Troops will carry no weapons but will have their standard issue firearms, usually rifles, close at hand, an official said.
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The Democrats and other critics have called Mr Trump’s deployment “political theatre” – but the president has threatened to repeat the move in other big cities.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the capital, dismissed a question from a reporter about how violence in Washington compared to other cities.
She said: “All I know is we rank in death. I don’t need any more statistics.”
In Washington, the DC National Guard reports directly to the president.
In the states, the troops answer to the governor except when called into federal service.
