DC Mayor Bowser speaks with Trump, says crime is down following federal takeover
DC Mayor Bowser speaks with Trump, says crime is down following federal takeover
There are new results from President Donald Trump?s D.C. takeover, and they show crime dramatically down. This came as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, just days after he said Bowser had to ?get her act together.?
WASHINGTON - There are new results from President Donald Trump’s D.C. takeover, and they show crime dramatically down.
The numbers came as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, just days after he said Bowser had to "get her act together."
The mayor wanted to highlight these numbers but didn’t appear to want to share what she and the president discussed.
What we know:
Reporters pressed the mayor repeatedly to detail what she and Trump discussed this week and if she raised any objections to the president about the takeover or his threats to D.C.’s Home Rule and even her job, but she repeatedly insisted the conversation was private and she would not get into details.
What she would talk about are the crime numbers and they are down.
By the numbers:
Here’s what the latest data shows: carjackings are down 87% since the federal surge started, violent crime is down 45% while arrests are up 20% and illegal gun recoveries are up 12%.
Both Bowser and D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith indicated these results would have been possible if D.C. was able to hire the 500 police officers the department is down, but the mayor said she "greatly appreciates" the help.
"The most significant things that we are highlighting today is the area of the crime that was most troubling for us in 2023, and we have driven it down over the last years," Bowser said.
The mayor also said that D.C. would try to count the number of homeless people in the city on Thursday to figure out how many are still on the streets since many of the encampments were taken down. That count did happen, but the numbers have not yet been released.
Dig deeper:
When asked about the protests, the social media posts and the calls for her to be more vocal in pushing back against the Trump administration's threats to Home Rule, Bowser insisted that D.C. residents trust her.
"I’m not going to talk about the details of that conversation. You’ve seen what I’ve laid out our concerns and you have seen what I have laid out in terms of the benefits," Bowser said.
When asked about the Justice Department and now congressional investigations looking into if D.C. police officals manipulated crime data to produce more favorable results, both the mayor and MPD Chief Smith would not comment on the investigations but said they are cooperating fully.