On August 11, 2025, President Trump issued two executive orders aimed at addressing what he described as an “epidemic of crime” in Washington, D.C. The Orders—Restoring Law and Order in the District of Columbia and Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia—invoke presidential authority to mobilize the National Guard and place the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under federal control.
Both directives emphasize the impact of rising violence on federal employees and the functioning of the U.S. government. Federal employees are specifically mentioned by the president among the groups being harmed by the situation.
Restoring Law and Order
This presidential memorandum directs the Secretary of Defense to mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard to restore public safety. The White House said that the District of Columbia National Guard will remain mobilized until law and order is restored.
The president cites recent violent incidents—including the murder of embassy staffers, a Congressional intern, and the beating of an administration staffer—as evidence of deteriorating conditions.
Federal employees are central to the rationale for action:
- Trump states it is his “duty to our citizens and Federal workers to secure the safety and the peaceful functioning of our Nation, the Federal Government, and our city.”
- He emphasizes the need to ensure that “the Federal Government can properly function, without fear of being subjected to violent, menacing street crime”.
Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia
This Order invokes Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act to place the Metropolitan Police Department under federal operational control. It delegates authority to the Attorney General and mandates that the Mayor of D.C. provide police services for federal purposes.
Federal employees are again a focal point:
The Executive Order warns that rising violence “endangers public servants” and “forces the diversion of critical public resources.”
It also states:
The increase in violent crime in the heart of our Republic has consequences beyond the individual tragedies that have dominated media coverage. Such lawlessness also poses intolerable risks to the vital Federal functions that take place in the District of Columbia. Violence and crime hamper the recruitment and retention of essential Federal employees, undermine critical functions of Government and thus the well-being of the entire Nation, and erode confidence in the strength of the United States.
The president pledges to protect “Federal workers who live or commute into the District of Columbia” and ensure they are not “violently attacked by mobs or fatally shot close to the Federal buildings where they work”.
As evidence for the need to take these actions, Trump states:
The magnitude of the violent crime crisis places the District of Columbia among the most violent jurisdictions in the United States. In 2024, the District of Columbia averaged one of the highest robbery and murder rates of large cities nationwide. Indeed, the District of Columbia now has a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 States, recording a homicide rate in 2024 of 27.54 per 100,000 residents. It also experienced the Nation’s highest vehicle theft rate with 842.4 thefts per 100,000 residents — over three times the national average of 250.2 thefts per 100,000 residents. The District of Columbia is, by some measures, among the top 20 percent of the most dangerous cities in the world.
A White House fact sheet published in conjunction with the Executive Order also states, “Washington, DC’s 2024 murder rate (27.54 per 100K) is higher than Bogota (15.1), Mexico City (10.6), Islamabad (9.2), Lima (7.6), and even major capitals like Paris (1.64), London (1.1), and Madrid (0.96).”
The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police published year-to-date crime statistics between 2024 and 2025 that show crimes are down from last year over various categories. As of August 11, 2025, total violent crime (i.e. homicides, assaults with dangerous weapons) was down 26%, and total property crimes (i.e. burglaries, vehicle thefts) were down 4% from last year.
Fox 5 DC reported that while crime rates have fallen from last year, 2023 showed a spike in some crimes. There was a significant increase in the number of carjackings, and one city councilman called for the National Guard to be deployed that year to help stop the increase in violence that led to a 28% increase in homicides.
DC Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton told NBC News that he doubts the reported figures. He said, “There’s a, potentially, a drop from where we were in 2023. I think that there’s a possibility that crime has come down. But the department is reporting that in 2024, crime went down 35% — violent crime – and another 25% through August of this year. That is preposterous to suggest that cumulatively we’ve seen 60-plus percent drops in violent crime from where we were in ’23, because we’re out on the street. We know the calls we’re responding to.”
Conclusion
These executive orders frame the safety of federal employees not just as a workplace issue but as a national security concern.
For those of you who live and work in the D.C. area, what are your thoughts about the situation? Have you noticed an increase in crime? Do you feel unsafe commuting to work in D.C.? Do you feel that these actions that the president is taking are necessary to make the city safer? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
