Attorney General Pam Bondi said she met Tuesday with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and that the two agreed to “work closely” after President Trump signed an order federalizing the city’s police force.
“I just concluded a productive meeting with DC @MayorBowser at the Department of Justice,” Bondi wrote on social platform X.
“We agreed that there is nothing more important than keeping residents and tourists in Washington, D.C. safe from deadly crime.”
D.C.’s crime rate is on the decline after a spike in 2023, and the Department of Justice touted at the beginning of the year that violent crime in the District had reached a 30-year low.
Beyond federalizing the police force, Trump also said he would send the National Guard to assist in policing efforts.
At a Monday press conference, Bowser, who has struck a conciliatory approach with Trump in his second term given the influence he has over D.C., said the city will “follow the law [and] work with federal officials.”
“I’m going to work every day to make sure it’s not a complete disaster. Let me put it that way,” she told reporters.
“We’re going to work every day to get this emergency put to an end — I’ll call it the ‘so-called emergency,’” she added.
Other corners of the city more directly embraced the takeover.
The head of the DC Police Union praised the move and the deployment of National Guard troops as a “critical stopgap” amid “out of control” crime.
“We stand with the President in recognizing that Washington, D.C., cannot continue on this trajectory,” union Chair Gregg Pemberton said in a statement. “Crime is out of control, and our officers are stretched beyond their limits.”
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