Washington DC is sueing the federal government for its acquisition of the police force, US Attorney General Palm Bondi nominated the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as the “Emergency Commissioner of Police” of the district.
The city’s Attorney General, Brian Shwalab wrote on X that the US government had illegally declared the acquisition of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and was “misusing its temporary, limited rights under the law”.
The lawsuit asks a judge to zero Bandy’s order and stop the DEA Head from “obeying any position of the command within MPD”.
President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would use federal law enforcement to tighten the crime in Washington.
Since then, he has sent hundreds of national guards and other federal agents to be homeless, which has sent the outpost and otherwise to remove the law enforcement, the outpost and otherwise to run the law enforcement, which allows them to use MPD for “federal objectives”.
Late on Thursday night, Bandi wrote in an order that DEA Administrator Terry Cole would consider local police chief Pamela Smith’s “all powers and duties”. According to the order, the chief “should get approval from the Commissioner Coal before issuing any other instruction to MPD”, according to the order.
Almost immediately, Washington DC Mayor Muril Boussar and Shwalab said the order was “illegal” and telling Smith not to follow it.
In the last few days, armored vehicles have parked near monuments and other tourist destinations, and drivers have been stopped on a popular nightlife corridor. Officials have said that, overall, 800 soldiers are expected to be deployed in the district, as well as 500 federal law enforcement agents, such as FBI.
A Democrat, Bausar, has said that there is no emergency and Trump’s “unnecessary and unprecedented” step is a “powerful push”.
Speaking on Fox News on Thursday to announce his appointment of Cole, Bandi said that federal officials had made 156 arrests and seized 27 fire scriptures this week.
Trump has stated that the crime in Washington DC has deteriorated, but the analysis by BBC Verifies suggests a different trend.
According to data published by DC Police, violent crimes fell after peak in 2023 and in 2024, they hit their lowest level in 30 years.
They are falling falling, giving initial data for 2025.
According to the police department, this year this year, compared to this point this year, violent crime has fallen by 26% this year, and the robbery is 28% below.
