Robbie Woodland was a skeptic of President Trump’s takeover of the District until she spotted a patrol firsthand in Southeast.
The lifelong Washingtonian watched as federal agents drove by without performing any jump-outs or other strong-arm police tactics of the sort she feared would target her predominantly Black neighbors living across the Anacostia River, a part of the nation’s capital long associated with high crime.
When she took her focus off the patrol and looked at her surroundings, she noticed the troublemakers who had become fixtures of her community were nowhere to be found.
“The streets were the emptiest I’ve seen in years,” said Ms. Woodland, an advisory neighborhood commissioner for Congress Heights. “It seemed like this group of [agents] just wanted to do the job of creating a safe space. And if that’s how they’re operating, man, we’re all for that.”
In the first full week since Mr. Trump announced he was federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the operation has tallied nearly 400 arrests that include homicide suspects, wanted thieves and drug traffickers.
She added that 21 illegal guns were seized this past weekend alone in enforcement sweeps carried out by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations meant to tackle crime and disorder throughout the District.
The D.C. Police Union, an avid supporter of the president’s move, shared data showing major drops in carjackings (down 83%), robberies (down 46%) and overall violent crime (down 22%) during the first week of the federal takeover.
Ibrahim Hossain, who was attacked this month by a teen mob while working at the Hechinger Mall in Northeast, said the surge of federal agents is easing his anxiety about becoming a victim again.
“The USA is the greatest country in the world, so I always believe that Washington, D.C., should be more safe than any other city in the world,” Mr. Hossain said.
But the residents aren’t just celebrating the arrival of federal law enforcement to their communities during the 30-day emergency period — some are actively trying to join the effort.
Ms. Woodland said she and others are suggesting problem areas for federal authorities to direct agents toward.
One of those sites she wants cleaned up is the Congress Park apartments on Savannah Street SE.
The complex was the scene of a Memorial Day triple shooting that left one man dead and two others injured. Ms. Woodland said the property would be ripe for federal attention since several people with violent records live there.
Another area she said law enforcement can head toward is the intersection of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. avenues in Southeast. Ms. Woodland said a strip of parkland on the block witnesses rampant drug use, but police records show a man and a teen were shot around that same area in June.
She said she went to MPD’s Seventh District Police station with her recommendations since federal agents are being deployed from there.
As for Mr. Hossain, he said the federal forces are deterring unruly youths from returning to his store and terrorizing him.
The manager of the 24/7 Best Tobacco & Wireless said a horde of 30 teenagers ransacked the business on Benning Road Northeast earlier this month and assaulted the store’s staff.
Mr. Hossain said it started with small packs of boys coming into the store late on Aug. 8 and running off with merchandise. As he noticed more teens crowding near the entrance, the manager said he locked the door and called police, hoping for a quick response.
But after nearly 20 minutes of waiting, and as sympathy from customers locked inside began to wane, Mr. Hossain said he unlocked the door to let them out. That’s when all hell broke loose.
“Young kids rushed inside and started throwing bricks, bottles, whatever, at us,” Mr. Hossain said.
He added that he and other employees retreated to the covered cashier counter while a swarm of juveniles raided the store. Police officers didn’t show up until 45 minutes after he first called.
The incident was so harrowing for the store manager, he said he has debated quitting his job located near Kingman Park, which MPD data shows has the highest density of violent crimes over the past year among all neighborhoods.
But the affected neighborhoods are all over the city.
Columbia Heights, once a testament of the city’s growth and development in the 2010s, has lost its shine after the COVID-era crime lingered in the Northwest neighborhood.
A now-shuttered CVS Pharmacy was picked clean by thieves so often its barren shelves made national headlines. And a May shooting killed a man eating dinner with his mother when a stray bullet flew into his apartment and mortally wounded him.
Social media videos have shown FBI agents conducting patrols along 14th Street Northwest in Columbia Heights, which has seen one of the biggest increases in violent crime in the District year-over-year.
Martin Mancia, a 32-year resident of the neighborhood, said he supports the takeover, and has seen federal authorities interacting cordially with residents as they make their way around by foot.
“The government has to apply the law,” he said. “You’re talking about illegal guns, drugs, this and that. I see no problem with it.”
The takeover’s most visible presence comes in the form of the D.C. National Guard, although the troops have been mainly concentrated in the tourist-heavy areas of the National Mall and Union Station — neither of which are associated with high crime.
Some troops are being stationed at the D.C. Armory in Southeast as well.
As many as 800 guardsmen from Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia are expected to arrive in the nation’s capital this week, with some of the troops potentially being armed. It will bring the total number of guardsmen in the city up to 1,600 once they make it to the District.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower, a Democrat, and the D.C. Council, which is almost entirely made up of Democrats, have spoken out against Mr. Trump’s justification for the takeover.
They argue violent crime is at a 30-year low in the District and has been trending down since the city saw a generational crime wave of deadly shootings, carjackings and muggings two years ago.
But Mr. Trump has responded by pointing out that the District has the fourth-highest murder rate in the country, outpacing both New York City and Chicago, and also has one of the highest car theft rates in the nation.
He further disputed the accuracy of the MPD crime statistics by pointing out how a department commander is being investigated for allegedly fudging data in official crime statistics to make the federal city appear less violent.
As politicians wage a rhetorical battle over the state of public safety in the District, people on the ground are voicing their support for the push to address crime.
Mr. Hossain, the store manager attacked by the teen mob in Northeast, said the president’s takeover is already making him feel better about his safety on the job.
It reaffirms his recent move to the District in May, and gives him hope about what’s to come for his time in the nation’s capital.
“I was thinking this city will be the best city in the world,” Mr. Hossain said. “The decision President Trump took, I really appreciate that, because it has to be like this.”
