An analysis by NBC Washington of Metropolitan Police Department data shows that while crime is down slightly across Washington since last week’s federal takeover of the D.C. police and the deployment of the National Guard, there do not appear to have been major shifts in policing or in the number of people taken off the streets.
Of the 622 people arrested by D.C. police and federal agents from Aug. 11 — when Trump announced the federal takeover of MPD — to yesterday, about a third were charged with misdemeanors under D.C. law: simple assault, driving without a valid license and trespassing.
During the same week after the takeover, 25% of the people arrested were charged with felonies. That’s down 3% from the previous week — Aug. 3 to Aug. 10 — when 28% of those arrested were charged with felonies.
A review of publicly available crime data for D.C. shows that reports of crime appear to be down 10% when the two one-week periods are compared.
MPD said it received reports for 576 total crimes the week before Trump announced the takeover. Of those crimes, 48 were considered “violent,” indicating they were homicides, sexual abuse, assaults with a deadly weapon or robberies.
During the first week the federal takeover, the number of total crimes was down to 516 reported — a 10% drop overall. Of those, 33 were considered violent crimes.
This data does not include immigration violations, which have been a focus of the federal agents on the streets of Washington but is not tracked by MPD. In data provided by the White House, the Trump administration said more than 160 undocumented immigrants were arrested from Aug. 7 — when federal agents were ordered on the streets of D.C. — to yesterday morning. The White House did not break down the immigration arrests on a daily basis.
As of today, more than 1,900 officers, soldiers and agents were on the ground in D.C. supporting Trump’s efforts.
NBC Washington reported last month that an MPD commander was suspended and put on leave in May after the department began investigating allegations he altered crime data. The Justice Department has since launched its own probe.