Eight hundred National Guard troops will be assigned to Washington, D.C. as part of a crackdown on crime and homelessness, U.S. President Donald Trump said during a White House press briefing on Monday. He did not rule out the possibility of carrying out the same approach in other cities too in the future.
This decision is despite the fact crime rates have been falling in Washington. According to data from the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, violent crimes have been declining steadily since 2023, when there had been a peak in crime largely due to a spate of robberies and carjackings. As the following chart shows, while crime certainly does take place in Washington, violent crime was down 26 percent compared to the same time period in 2024, as property crime fell by 4 percent. The year before (2023-2024), violent crime and property crime dropped by 35 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Between January 1 and August 8 2025, the vast majority of crime incidents in the city were related to property. Out of the 13,884 cases reported, 49.8 percent were categorized under theft (excluding vehicles/auto). In the first seven months of the year, there have been 99 reported homicides (-12 percent year-on-year), 55 cases of sex abuse (-49 percent), 530 cases of assault with a dangerous weapon (-20 percent) and 888 cases of robbery (-28 percent). Crime data has the challenge that not all crimes are reported.
