D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a press conference on Wednesday that the federal surge in the nation’s capital is helping reduce crime.
“We know that we have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced an extreme reduction in carjackings,” Bowser declared at a conference dubbed “SITUATIONAL UPDATE FEDERAL SURGE.”
“This is what we think, in just a couple of weeks of experience, has worked, having more federal law enforcement officers on the street,” Bowser said, admitting that President Donald Trump’s intervention in the nation’s capital was having its desire effect.
“We think having more stops that got to illegal guns has helped. We think that there is more accountability in the system, or at least perceived accountability in the system, that is driving down illegal behavior,” the mayor continued.
Bowser did not dismiss the idea of the U.S. Department of Transportation taking over the management of Union Station, Washington’s train station.
“They own Union Station. It’s owned by the Department of Transportation, and it will be a good thing, because [sic] if that station has suffered from needing, some say $12 billion, but let’s call it at least $8 billion worth of investment in the renovation, and that is not something that the district will be able to support,” the mayor said.
“If it’s about what Union Station needs for its total transformation, that would be an amazing initiative for the federal government to take on,” Bowser noted.
The greatly improved crime statistics in the District did not stop the mayor from criticizing the way the Trump administration was enforcing the law.
“We know having masked ICE agents in the community has not worked,” Bowser said.
“National Guards from other states has not been an efficient use of those resources,” the mayor contended. She also noted that the federal district would continue to need more police.
Bowser said Washington was a unique city as the seat of the country’s federal government, and so she would not comment on the Trump administration’s potential efforts to send federal forces to other cities. The mayor also doubled down on support for local control over the city.
“What we want is local control of our public safety ecosystem, and that includes deployment of officers. And we want federal officers that work in coordination with us—DEA, ATF, FBI—who, as the chief just mentioned, work with us on major crime issues all the time, and our officers are familiar with working with them, and they have been helpful in the field,” the mayor said.
Bowser has served as mayor since 2015. Prior to that she was a member of the D.C. Council, representing Ward 4.
