By Rita Cook
Washington D.C. – President Donald Trump’s Executive Order #6370-2025 declaring a Crime Emergency to Restore Safety in the District of Columbia was signed last week.
The propaganda speckled with bits of truth and bits of incorrect reporting has been thick ever since.
I will refrain from any opinion, but I am going to meet you here with facts.
I had to look up facts myself because mainstream narrative was overwhelming.
That and people from both sides of the aisles had only about half the information. And only half of that information was correct.
It is true crime is down in D.C. this year.
If that is the only thing you hear parroted then you will likely believe this “federal takeover initiated by Trump is big scary.”
Dig deeper.
What is not being revealed?
That would be just how high the crime rate numbers were in D.C. to begin with having outdone other cities by leaps and bounds.
Let us just talk about 2025 numbers.
The District of Columbia has had 99 murders as of July 2025 (and that is just murders not other crimes).
The District of Columbia has 702,250 living in its federal district comprised of 131 unofficial neighborhoods.
Residents of D.C. are both federal citizens and U.S. citizens by birthright. Unlike residents of states, they lack full representation in Congress and cannot elect their own senators or representatives with full voting rights.
D.C. does have a local government with a mayor and council.
Overall, Congress retains oversight even when it comes to local laws.
The District of Columbia is actually a city/state or nation/state depending on the research. This is along with London also called same and the Vatican.
Go down the city/state rabbit hole on your own. Start with the term Empire of Cities and D.C.’s flag. It has three red stars. Some say these represent the three locations named above. Either way, the flag is touted with implications for the district’s obvious autonomy.
Autonomy being the word here as I ask then what does it mean when federal troops arrive (National Guard) and override the Metropolitan Police (MPD)?
That is why there has been some talk about Trump’s EO in “said” Federal District.
People were rumoring the Federal takeover was okay because it is a federal district, which overrides local.
But the talk is too, if arrests are made of politicians on (any) list from either side of the aisle, federal in charge can mean different rules and easier arrests.
Is the bigger picture being missed due to the obvious distraction?
Back to facts I know.
D.C.’s 99 murders in 2025 compared to cities of the same population is high no matter. It is like one person saying, “We are not doing bad” and another answering, “You are horrifyingly doing worse than anywhere else even on your best day.”
Drop in homicides in D.C.? There were 112 murders in 2024, so 2025 is not shaping up if we look at the numbers with an eye toward 12 months.
Compared to Charleston/North Charleston, SC with six murders year to date with a population of 765,000, Rochester, NY with 758,000 and only 16 murders, Dayton, Ohio’s 754,000 with 23 murders or Knoxville, TN with 807,000 population and just four murders in 2025.
And so, an Emergency EO was signed.
I would say the word “emergency” depends on who is calling it an emergency and how it is being defined.
Here is a fact, D.C.’s murder rate in 2024 was three times higher than Islamabad, Pakistan.
Trump’s EO requires D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser to make the services of the MPD available to the President. It also delegates authority to the Attorney General, who will monitor the emergency conditions.
It reads “President Trump has a Constitutional obligation to restore order so that citizens, tourists, and staff can live peacefully in the Nation’s capital. Our Nation’s capital should be the envy of the world, not a disgrace.”
Trump said “Just like I took care of the Border, where you had ZERO Illegals coming across last month, from millions the year before, I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN! Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World. It will soon be that again.”
Does the president have the right to come in and clean up a district, a federal district, using its City/State Police who may or may not be able to be overridden?
Democratic lawmakers introduced a joint resolution to end what they called “Trump’s unlawful and unprecedented move to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department in DC.”
Representative Jamie Raskin said, “The only emergency here is a lawless president experiencing a growing public relations emergency because of his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his stubborn refusal to release the Epstein file despite his promise to do so.”
Forget the fact the blue had four years to release these abovementioned files, but more to the point why the gaslighting bringing up Epstein’s name.
What does Epstein have to do with the outrageous crime in D.C.?
The Home Rule Act of 1973 states D.C. residents “have the authority to govern their local affairs, including by electing a mayor and local council members. But because D.C. is considered a “federal district” rather than a state, the president and Congress are given the legal ability to manage local laws and local tax dollars.”
Under that same act, the president has 30-day power to take over the D.C. police department for “federal purposes” under “special conditions of an emergency.”
Late last week the EO was scaled back to allow MPD to remain in control. That gives D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith her answer as to “chain of command.” Smith was confused about that question at a press conference last week when Bowser had to step in to answer the question for her.
Rita Cook is a world traveler and writer/editor who specializes in writing on travel, auto, crime and politics. A correspondent for Texas Metro News, she has published 11 books and has also produced low-budget films.
