President Donald Trump’s latest law-and-order campaign in the nation’s capital is already leaving visible marks, particularly at Union Station, where a CNN reporter says loitering has noticeably declined. The effort — anchored by a federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) — is part of a sweeping push to confront rising public-safety concerns in the District.
The crackdown was rolled out Monday, just days after Edward Coristine, a Department of Government Efficiency staffer better known online as “Big Balls,” was severely injured while trying to stop a carjacking, explained The Daily Caller. The attack, which officials cited as emblematic of the city’s deteriorating street safety, has intensified calls for federal intervention.
On Thursday, CNN’s Gabe Cohen described the changes during a “CNN News Central” segment with guest co-host Jessica Dean. “This is one of the areas of focus that we have heard a lot of concerns about, crime around Union Station, people who are loitering outside,” Cohen told Dean. “I will tell you, as somebody who walks this route all the time, it does seem like there are fewer people just sort of hanging around, but we don’t know exactly what that is.”
A reinforced security perimeter now features National Guard troops and multiple federal law-enforcement agencies. “These National Guard troops, they are not here to make arrests. They do have zip ties on their back, but they are really here just for presence and to assist MPD any way they can,” Cohen said. While MPD and the district’s police chief still control the core safety strategy, they are coordinating closely with federal counterparts. The train station has been the site of murders over the past year.
The White House, however, casts the chain of command differently. “But if you ask the White House, they say it’s Attorney General Pam Bondi and the head of the DEA, Terry Cole, who are the ones who are ultimately in charge here,” Cohen noted. “We’ll see how that dynamic plays out, but again, outside Union Station, this is what folks who live or visit D.C. can expect to see: A lot of federal law enforcement presence.”
The surge in manpower follows a series of high-profile attacks — among them the June 30 fatal shooting of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.), near the White House, and the May killing of two Israeli Embassy employees at the Capital Jewish Museum, allegedly by a pro-Hamas gunman. While Democratic leaders point to data showing violent crime down by roughly one-third, critics contend MPD statistics exclude many aggravated and felony assaults — offenses that qualify as violent crimes under D.C. law — thus painting an incomplete picture. Furthermore, one of the commanders of the Washington Police Department was recently suspended after it was revealed he had been doctoring crime statistics.
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