(Al Jazeera Media Network) Some of the 800 National Guard members deployed by the Trump administration began arriving as police and federal officials took the first steps in an uneasy partnership to reduce crime in what President Donald Trump called a lawless city.
The influx on Tuesday came the morning after the Republican president announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the district’s police department. He cited a crime emergency – but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves, at least for a month.
Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Trump has tasked with overseeing the city’s law enforcement, while insisting the police chief remained in charge of the department and its officers.
“How we got here or what we think about the circumstances – right now we have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,” she told reporters.
The tone was a shift from the day before, when Bowser said Trump’s plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department and call in the National Guard was not a productive step and argued his perceived state of emergency simply doesn’t match the declining crime numbers.
Still, the law gives the federal government more sway over the capital city than in US states, and Bowser said her administration’s ability to push back is limited.
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media that the meeting was productive.
