WASHINGTON–The Washington, DC, Police Union is backing President Donald Trump’s call to take federal control of Washington, DC, due to rampant crime.
Gregg Pemberton, the chairman of the union, released a statement Monday afternoon on the heels of Trump’s executive action to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department.
“We stand with the President in recognizing that Washington, DC, cannot continue on this trajectory. Crime is out of control, and our officers are stretched beyond their limits,” Pemberton said, according to a statement shared by WUSA’s Spencer Allen.
“The federal intervention is a critical stopgap, but the MPD needs proper staffing and support to thrive,” he added. ‘This can only happen by repealing the disastrous policies that have driven out our best officers and hindered recruitment.”
Trump announced his actions to crack down on crime in D.C. at a press conference Monday in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
“I’m officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act — you know what that is — and placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control, and you’ll be meeting the people that will be directly involved with that,” Trump said to begin the presser.
“Very good people, but they’re tough, and they know what’s happening. They’ve done it before,” Trump said, adding he is deploying the National Guard to “help reestablish law order of public safety in Washington, DC,” so they can do their job “properly.”
Trump cited a number of instances in which public officials and employees have been victims of violent crime, including the recent assault of a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer, the stabbing of an aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the 2023 gunpoint carjacking of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and the killing of former Trump administration official Mike Gill.
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