D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an order Tuesday ensuring coordination with federal law enforcement "during and after the Presidential emergency."
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an order Tuesday ensuring coordination with federal law enforcement "during and after the Presidential emergency."
In a mayor's order dated Tuesday, Bowser outlined the role of the Safe and Beautiful Emergency Operations Center, or SBEOC. The center is responsible for managing the city's response to President Donald Trump's Safe and Beautiful Task Force and his declaration of a crime emergency in the city.
Bowser said the center will describe how the federal government can assist the city, with the goal of reducing gun violence and violent crime. Bowser alluded to the order last week.
The order said the SBEOC will communicate D.C.'s requests, such as asking federal law enforcement officials not to wear masks in the city, a step the order said was necessary to maintain community confidence in law enforcement.
The District will continue to work with the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, U.S. Park Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Capitol Police and U.S. Secret Service. The release doesn't mention Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the National Guard.
At an event last Thursday, Bowser said, "what has not worked during this period of time is ICE terrorizing communities, especially with masks, and especially not having enough information about where people are." She similarly characterized National Guard troops on city streets as something that "hasn't worked."
The order comes less than a week after Bowser said the federal law enforcement surge is helping to address crime across D.C.
In response to Bowser's order, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said, "President Trump's efforts to crack down on crime in DC have yielded tremendous results in such a short time -- violent crime has plummeted and dangerous criminals are being removed from the streets every single night."
President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency and invoked the Home Rule Act, a step that is scheduled to end after 30 days. Trump would have to seek Congressional approval to extend it.
Bowser's order provides a path for working with federal law enforcement after the president's declaration of a crime emergency in the nation's capital -- her strongest public indication that federal law enforcement could remain in the city indefinitely.
At a separate vent Thursday, Bowser described the imminent order as "the structure that I am putting in place, an emergency operations center, that has four work streams that prepares the District to either request more or different federal law enforcement or receive the services of federal law enforcement in a way that enhances what MPD is already doing under the control of the chief."
Bowser said the center will provide regular crime statistics from D.C. and federal officers. Attorney General Pam Bondi said there were more than 200 arrests and 20 illegal guns seized in D.C. during Labor Day weekend. There have been 1,669 arrests made and 168 guns recovered since the law enforcement surge started, Bondi shared in a graphic on X.
A White House official said five missing children have been rescued, 16 known gang members have been arrested, and 50 homeless encampments have been cleared. D.C. police, the official said, are working with city officials to find and clear other encampments.
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