On July 28, 2025, it was reported that President Donald Trump intends to deploy National Guard troops to Washington D.C. to combat crime and take control of the city’s police department. During a press conference, Trump declared “Liberation Day” for the city and pledged to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor and worse.” However, the reports varied, as Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser insisted that the city has experienced a significant decrease in crime, reaching a 30-year low in violent crime.
BBC Verify examined data from Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC), which showed that violent offences peaked in 2023 and by 2024, hit their lowest level in 30 years. Initial data for 2025 also showed a declining trend in violent crime. MPDC data stated that crime fell by 26% in 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
While Trump and the DC Police Union questioned the accuracy of the city police department’s crime figures, Adam Gelb from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) argued that violent crime in D.C. is falling. Studies have shown that D.C.’s homicide rate is higher than the average of other major U.S. cities. Additionally, there have been 99 homicides so far in 2025, including the death of a 21-year-old congressional intern in crossfire, which Trump mentioned in his press conference.
Trump also claimed that the number of carjackings had tripled over the last five years. However, the MPDC recorded 189 carjacking offences in 2025, down from 300 in the same period last year. A citywide curfew for people aged under 17 has been in place since July 2025 to combat juvenile-related crimes.
Comparatively, D.C.’s crime rate remains higher than the average of other large cities, even though it is declining. The CCJ looked at crime rates across 30 major U.S. cities and found that while D.C.’s downward trend in homicides was more pronounced than the average, it only dropped 3% when compared to pre-pandemic years.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8600x7dnn4o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
