D.C. police chief praises takeover for rounding up suspects as fed arrests pass 100

The District of Columbia’s top cop said Wednesday that the federal agents flooding the city had made more than 100 arrests on gun, drug and homicide charges that her short-staffed police force didn’t have the manpower to tackle.

Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said the extra patrols of FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Department agents initiated by President Trump’s federal takeover this week have helped authorities arrest criminals who would otherwise remain on the loose.

“Remember, you’re talking about 500 additional personnel in the District of Columbia,” Chief Smith told WTTG-TV. “As you know, we’ve talked about the fact that we’re down in numbers with our police officers, and so this enhanced presence clearly is going to impact us in a positive way.”

Mr. Trump said he would push Congress for a long-term extension of the emergency declaration, now limited to 30 days, to further his mission of reducing lawlessness in the nation’s capital. The bill faces steep odds of passing because it would require the support of Democrats.

For now, the federal muscle has been a boon for the Metropolitan Police Department and its roster of 3,100 sworn officers, a 50-year low. The department sustained mass attrition during the “defund the police” movement in 2020 and never recovered.

The White House said the takeover had accrued 103 arrests since federal authorities were dispatched last week.

An additional 43 people were arrested Tuesday, officials said, on charges related to homicide, guns, drugs and being in the country illegally.

Videos circulating on social media showed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents making daytime arrests Tuesday at the Home Depot near Rhode Island Avenue Northeast. By nightfall, Homeland Security officers were making arrests in Columbia Heights in Northwest.

Officials said more than 1,450 authorities participated in Tuesday’s crackdown. About 750 were from the Metropolitan Police Department, and 30 were National Guard troops.

About 800 guardsmen are expected to be in the District during the emergency deployment, but their presence has been less noticeable in the first days of the federal takeover.

The White House said the number of guardsmen in public view would be “significantly higher” by Wednesday night. Further, federal agents will patrol the city all day rather than focusing their enforcement efforts after dark.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat who has called the takeover “unsettling and unprecedented,” said she nevertheless welcomes the federal help because the police are stretched thin.

She said a more lasting solution would be to increase police department’s officer numbers to 3,800 to cover the District effectively.

“To the extent that you see the federal surge getting more arrests, taking more guns, MPD officers would do the same thing,” Ms. Bowser told WTTG. “We need to be very, very focused on how we recruit, retain officers. How we make sure our policy environment promotes accountability for people who use guns in our city, and those things combined will make our city safe.”

Ms. Bowser said getting firearms off the street was one of the shared goals she discussed in a Tuesday meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi. Ms. Bondi oversees the operation bringing in all branches of federal law enforcement.

FBI Director Kash Patel said his agency was responsible for apprehending a homicide suspect Monday during a warranted search, one of the 23 people arrested during the daylong operation.

The FBI’s 10 arrests were focused on illegal guns and “multiple” people wanted for driving under the influence, Mr. Patel said.

“When you let good cops be cops, they can clean up our streets and do it fast,” the director wrote on X. “More to come. Your nation’s Capital will be safe again.”

Members of the D.C. Council, nearly all Democrats, have said the federal takeover is an “intrusion” that is overblown, given crime statistics showing a 30-year low in violent offenses.

Metropolitan Police Department statistics show a dramatic decline in the deadly shootings, carjackings and armed robberies that terrorized residents in 2023, the city’s bloodiest year this century.

Mr. Trump said those numbers are crooked and pointed to the investigation of the city police commander accused of manipulating data to hide the amount of violence in the District.

The White House said the District has the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country and its rate of nonviolent vehicle theft is more than three times the national average.