Updated August 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM MDT
WASHINGTON — President Trump began to deploy National Guard troops, along with hundreds of federal agents, around Washington, D.C., this week, in a move to crack down on what he calls rampant, violent crime. The federal government has also taken over the D.C. Metropolitan police.
Some Washingtonians see the president's move as a power play. Others say crime in parts of Washington is indeed a big problem and they welcome more resources, but they doubt deploying federal agents and soldiers is a solution.
Ava, a business consultant, lives in the U-Street neighborhood, a gentrifying part of the capital where there is a mix of younger professionals and older, long-time Washingtonians. The neighborhood is part of Ward 1, which has had seven homicides and 166 robberies so far this year, according to D.C. Metropolitan police.
Ava, who asked that NPR not use her last name because she is here on a green card and worries about retribution, says there have been shootings nearby, but she still sees her neighborhood as relatively safe and is comfortable walking home as late as 2 and 3 a.m. She says the president's description of Washington does not match her reality.
"I've lived in cities my whole life, and I don't think D.C. is more dangerous than other cities," she says. "I think this summer actually has been ... calmer than other summers."
Washington has had some serious violent crime problems, including carjackings. For instance, in June 2023, amid a crime surge, there were 140 in the city.
But the U.S. Justice Department says last year violent crime in the District of Columbia hit a 30-year low.
Violent crime in Ward 1 is down nearly 30 percent this year so far over the same period last year, according to police.
Across the Anacostia River in Ward 8, where poverty is high, there have been 38 homicides so far this year – nearly five times as in Ward 1.
"I have a friend that actually got raped about three years ago," says Alicia Cooper, who works as a property manager in the Congress Heights neighborhood. Cooper supports President Trump.
"I think he actually cares," she says. On balance, she welcomes federal oversight of the police and a National Guard presence.
"The positive is a sense of security," she says. "Residents, at the end of the day, they can feel secure that they know there is a higher level of chain command that is monitoring what's going on."
Joe McLean, 37, a lawyer who was visiting Congress Heights Wednesday, says the deployment of soldiers and federal agents is not about reducing crime, but flexing political power.
"Everybody knows that a show of force does not reduce crime, they don't care about crime, and crime is down," McLean says.
Instead, he says, he thinks the administration is trying to subjugate a majority-Black city.
"They see someone and they want to control them," McLean says.
For Lamarzs Wilson, Thursday morning was business as usual as he waited for a haircut at Brace's Barber Shop along Minnesota Avenue, also in Ward 8.
But on Wednesday night, he saw something he hadn't seen before.
"We had 14 police cars on our street," Wilson said. "It's FBI, U.S. Marshals. They had insignia, and some of them don't have no insignia on them."
He says he didn't see the officials arrest anyone. They just walked around.
"But at the same time, the image you are given by pulling up that deep, and all y'all got weapons, full body gear, your face covered up. You are looking for something to happen so you can do something," Wilson said.
Wilson, who described himself as living in D.C.'s "slums" all his life, was surprised at Trump's announcement.
"I don't even understand where it came from, to be honest with you. This city has been seeing crime for years," he says.
One of the barbers at the shop, Michael Fletcher, said he had not noticed any difference in policing himself in the last few days.
Fletcher said he wants to see change in his neighborhood, and in particular, he thinks juveniles should be punished more harshly. He also said he wants officers to be more proactive in preventing crime, but doesn't think sending in federal forces will do that.
"It's giving the police a right to be aggressive when a person is not aggressive," he said. "It's not solving the problem. It's only making people hate the law."
He says all this does is further the distrust people have toward the police.
Across town, in Northeast D.C.'s Ward 7, about half a dozen police cars, which all appeared to be from the Metropolitan Police Department, were parked down an alley just off Benning Road on Thursday morning. A black tent was set up just past the vehicles.
The MPD later confirmed that a man had been pronounced dead on the scene there, of what they believed to be a traffic fatality.
A.J. Jones, 27, was passing by. He says that wasn't the first time a person had been found dead in that alley.
Jones, who says he has struggled with homelessness and drug addiction, says if Trump really wants to address crime in DC – he should invest funding in helping people get housing, jobs, and help with addiction.
"If you stop cutting everything and actually do what a president is supposed to do, you'll get a better response. A lot of homeless people shouldn't be homeless," he says.
Even so, he said mostly this week has just felt like business as usual. He hadn't seen any federal forces here himself.
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