As President Donald Trump looks to crack down on crime within Washington, D.C., by sending in federal law enforcement to patrol the city, data reveals the nation’s capital is plagued by violent crime when compared to other metropolitan areas around the country.
In a news conference Monday, Trump announced he is planning to deploy members of the National Guard to the city’s streets while taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in an effort to restore safety and combat violence.
“You can be anything you want, but you want to have safety in the streets,” Trump said. “You want to be able to leave your apartment or your house where you live and feel safe and go into a store to buy a newspaper or buy something, and you don’t have that now.”
Although instances of violent crime within Washington, D.C. are down when compared to 2023, reports of incidents involving property remain either relatively stagnant or trending upward.
“I think that there is a significant need for crime reduction in a lot of these large cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C.,” Porcher said.
In 2025, property crime within the city is down by 4%, according to the MPD. Additionally, there have already been 2,926 reports of motor vehicle theft logged this year, approaching last year’s total of 2,940.
“It’s time to get tough on some of the smaller crimes to prevent the more violent crimes that have been going on in the city,” Pellegrino said. “Because, honestly, if you walk around D.C., even in the middle of the daytime [or] a weekday, you’ve got to have your head on a swivel.”
Pellegrino hopes the Trump administration’s efforts will set a standard for other cities grappling with crime throughout the country, while ensuring the nation’s capital is a safe place to visit, live and work.
“These violent crimes can happen to anybody,” Pellegrino told Fox News Digital. “They don’t discriminate based on your politics. And, again, whether you’re a tourist coming to visit or you’re somebody that’s lived here, or you just work in the city, we deserve better than that. This is the United States of America. It’s the greatest country on Earth. Our nation’s capital should represent something better than the standard it’s been held to over the last several years.”
