Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday it is true that the city underwent a “crime spike” following the COVID-19 pandemic, but argued a “huge decrease” in crime has occurred since.
President Donald Trump announced Monday he is federalizing the district’s Metropolitan Police Department to address a “public safety emergency,” with the MPD under the control of Attorney General Pam Bondi. In her press conference, Bowser said that she believes the president’s view of Washington is “shaped by his COVID-era experience” during his first term.
“And it is true that those were more challenging times related to some issues. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post-COVID. But we worked quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools, which is why we have seen a huge decrease in crime because of those efforts,” Bowser said Monday.
Bowser credited her city’s new laws for lowering a 2023 spike in crime. This year’s crime level was lower than both 2023 and 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic started. She also said the city is at a “30-year violent crime low,” but she is “not satisfied” with these statistics.
WHY TRUMP IS RIGHT ON DC CRIME
The mayor confirmed she has reached out to Bondi to schedule a meeting with her “soon.”
Trump and the White House have described the crackdown on district crime as “Liberation Day” in the city. On Sunday, Trump directed the city’s homeless community to “move out, IMMEDIATELY.”
