A Republican congressman introduced a bill that would allow President Donald Trump to indefinitely take control of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. The president declared a crime emergency on Monday, Aug. 11, which allows him to federalize the D.C. police for 30 days.
Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, the president can take control of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department if he “determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist.” The bill requires the president to inform Congress within 48 hours. The emergency powers automatically terminate after 30 days unless Congress passes an extension.
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The bill introduced by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., allows the president to continually renew the federalization for up to 30 days at a time. Congress could only stop it by passing a law terminating the emergency.
It is unlikely Ogles’ bill will pass. The legislation will need 60 votes in the Senate, where Democrats would never support it. They said Trump’s move to federalize the police is unnecessary and won’t make D.C. safer. An extension of the current federalization is equally unlikely for the same reason.
Congress gave D.C. the authority to govern itself in 1973. Republicans in Congress have suggested repealing the Home Rule Act. Their proposal would abolish the D.C. mayor and city council and put the district totally under congressional control.
D.C. has one representative in Congress who is not allowed to vote on legislation. Despite that, she said she will try to stop this bill.
“D.C. pays more federal taxes per capita than any state and more federal taxes overall than 19 states, while being denied the same voting representation in Congress or full local self-government accorded to residents of the 50 states,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said in a statement. “I will do everything in my power to block this bill’s progress and passage and prevent D.C. from suffering additional indignities at the hands of the federal government.”
Home rule is a sensitive subject in the district, where license plates say: “Taxation without representation.”
There’s been great debate as to whether D.C. is a dangerous city. Compared to 2023 and 2024, safety has improved. Violent crime is down 26% compared to this time last year, and homicides are down 11%.
See up-to-date crime statistics here.
Yet the homicide rate is still one of the highest in the country, and the mayor and police chief were taking steps to address safety well before the president took action.
Straight Arrow News spoke with D.C. residents who had mixed feelings about their city and the president’s actions.
“Youth crime is taking place. Whether it be in assaults, petty crime, petty thefts, carjackings, car break-ins,” Geronimo Collins, a lifetime D.C. area resident, told SAN. “But I think that this should have been more of an effort for the federal law enforcement and the administration to work more closely alongside the D.C. government, to come up with a solution that would resolve crime, but also not feel like a show of force.”
Judy Moore, who has lived in D.C. for 20 years, said she’s “afraid to walk the street at night, because you never know what’s going to happen.”
“Twenty years ago, safe. I never experienced anything like this,” Moore added.
Meanwhile, Crystal Shackelford, who has lived in D.C. for four years, said, “There’s crime that needs to be addressed, but you don’t solve homelessness with police intervention.”
“There is an issue with D.C. cops being stretched too thin. That is true,” Shackelford said. “I don’t think people want to be police officers because the benefits and pay are not there.”
