By The Washington Times (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-16 14:56:15 | Updated at 2026-08-16 15:10:07
49 minutes ago
The first full year of President Trump’s crime crackdown in the District saw federal law enforcement agencies make thousands of arrests, with the extra manpower contributing to lower crime statistics and helping the Metropolitan Police Department apprehend the most suspects since before the pandemic.
But a clear breakdown of the 16,000 arrests during the federal surge, which began in August 2025, is unavailable. For all of 2025, Metropolitan Police recorded more than 24,000 arrests — the highest total since 2019, when nearly 28,000 suspects were apprehended.
Arrest records show that Metropolitan Police nabbed more people for weapons offenses (1,552) and traffic violations (4,537) last year than in any year listed in the department’s arrest history, which dates back to 2013 on the Open Data DC platform.
After the federal surge was initiated, the police department witnessed a slight improvement in arresting homicide suspects. Officers arrested 48 suspects during the first seven months of 2025. After the crime-fighting surge started, police took 49 homicide suspects into custody in the final five months of the year.
Meanwhile, the population at the D.C. jail has increased by about 14% from July 2025, the month before the surge, to June 2026, the most recent month published by the D.C. Department of Corrections.
All of this all happened amid the Metropolitan Police Department’s 50-year-low in sworn-officer staffing.
What remains unclear is how much the federal presence has factored into the Metropolitan Police’s improved arrest numbers. The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force has included thousands of National Guard troops (who lack arrest authority) and hundreds of agents from the FBI, the Secret Service and other federal law enforcement agencies.
The U.S. Marshals Services, which is leading the task force, acknowledged that the Metropolitan Police Department has been pivotal to the federal intervention since it was upscaled in August 2025. The agency did not clarify whether local police and the task force are counting the same arrests in their separate datasets.
“Arrests are tracked by interagency-teams and all arrests made by the task force are counted as DC Safe Task Force arrests,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals told The Washington Times. “MPD is a major partner and works to process incoming arrests. For federal charges, custody is managed by the U.S. Marshals Service.”
Metropolitan Police referred questions about the task force’s arrests to the U.S. Marshals Service. The police department won’t share its 2026 arrest numbers until early next year.
Officials said the mission involving National Guard troops and authorities from the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other agencies has taken into custody nearly three dozen homicide suspects and more than 100 known gang members.
FBI Director Kash Patel said his agency was responsible for more than 6,000 of those arrests, as well as more than 1,300 gun seizures and nearly 2,000 drug-related arrests.
Metropolitan Police statistics show that homicides fell by 44% since August 2025, with robberies dropping by 33% and carjackings plummeting by 54% during that same period.
Mr. Trump declared the crime emergency and assumed control of Metropolitan Police last year after a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer was attacked near Logan Circle.
Task force officials said later that agents arrested and charged Anthony Taylor, 18, and Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, for their roles in the attack that left DOGE staffer Edward “Big Balls” Coristine bloodied.
Federal officials said the task force also tracked down three suspects linked to the June 2025 slaying of a congressional intern.
U.S. Marshals said Jailen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas, both 17, and 18-year-old Naqwan Lucas were charged in connection to the slaying of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym. Tarpinian-Jachym was an innocent bystander when he was mortally wounded by gunfire near Mount Vernon Square.
In January, the U.S. Marshals said the task force captured three suspected MS-13 gang members who allegedly killed a 14-year-old boy in Prince George’s County.
Democratic D.C. leaders have disputed the effect of the federal operation from the start.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council said crime in the District was already trending toward a 30-year-low when Mr. Trump issued an executive authority to commandeer the Metropolitan Police.
The 30-day emergency power produced roughly 2,300 arrests, and Ms. Bowser did note that there were steeper declines in homicides, carjackings and muggings after the federal agents began patrolling the streets.
But on the anniversary of the crime emergency, the mayor said the city’s strategic cooperation with federal authorities was done to protect the District’s ability to govern itself.
“We preserved our autonomy, we saved lives by keeping our focus on public safety, and throughout the surge, we ensured DC residents were able to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights,” Ms. Bowser said in a statement. “Ultimately, we demonstrated practically and politically that there was no need for extended federal emergency action.”
Mr. Trump cited public safety reasons for extending the National Guard deployment in the District until January 2029, the end of his second term.
