Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday ordered the Metropolitan Police Department to continue coordinating with federal law enforcement officials indefinitely, a concession to President Donald Trump after he sought to flex federal power over the local police force.
The order, which lacks an expiration date, requires local coordination with federal law enforcement “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.”
In a post to X announcing the order, Bowser called it “the pathway forward beyond the Presidential emergency,” which was issued by Trump last month as part of a stated effort to fight crime in D.C.
In a statement to NOTUS, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is “grateful to continue partnering with Mayor Bowser to make D.C. the safest city in the country.”
Trending
“The Mayor’s fellow Democrats should take note, working with President Trump means safer communities and less crime — no one in their right mind could seriously oppose that,” the statement read.
Speaking at a press conference last week marking 20 days of the local police force being under federal control, Bowser spoke in support of Trump’s efforts, touting a decreased crime rate.
“I think we’re going to have officers [after 30 days], and we want officers,” Bowser told reporters. “We know that when carjackings go down, when use of gun[s] goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel, and are, safer. So this surge has been important to us for that reason.”
Bowser also said that aspects of the arrangement were not working, arguing that “having masked ICE agents in the community” creates a lack of trust between residents and the increased number of officers.
By law, Trump’s federalization of the D.C. police force cannot go beyond 30 days — which would fall on Sept. 9 — without congressional approval or action by the mayor.
Tuesday’s executive order, however, said the District will continue to work with the federal “safe and beautiful” task force, and will respond to the presidential declaration of a crime emergency in D.C. “on a continuing basis.”
Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump thanked Bowser for her help, saying, “We don’t have a crime problem in Washington anymore.”
Author
