President Trump’s desperate attempt to distract the American people from his failing agenda is now coinciding with his administration’s dangerous attack on local policing in Washington, D.C., and will threaten public safety in the nation’s capital. Those working on the front lines—police officers, community members, and local leaders—know how vital community trust is and dedicate themselves to protecting the safety of their city every day. Stripping control of public safety from local leaders threatens that trust and stymies the very real solutions that have been working to drive down crime in the city and across the country in recent years. The Trump administration’s overreach is not going to make Washington, D.C. safer and is dangerous political theater that imperils democracy in the nation’s capital and beyond.(snip)

Because of its designation as a federal district, close collaborative relationships between MPD and federal law enforcement already exist. For example, MPD, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are already partnering to get illegal guns off the street through the Violent Crime Impact Team. President Trump’s decision to place Attorney General Pam Bondi—a political appointee with limited knowledge of the city’s communities—in a position to direct requests to MPD to further the Trump administration’s goals politicizes the necessary work of reducing crime in the district.

Despite being the headquarters of multiple federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the nationwide crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s greatly affected the city and led to large increases in crime. The number of homicides in Washington peaked in 1991 at 482, a rate of 80.6 homicides per 100,000 residents, and the city eventually became known as the "murder capital" of the United States.

The crime rate started to fall in the mid-1990s as the crack cocaine epidemic gave way to economic revitalization projects. Neighborhood improvement efforts and new business investment have also started to transform neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, leading to the first rise in the District's population in 60 years.*