The federal law enforcement surge in response to President Trump’s declaration of a DC “crime emergency.” has been underway for nearly five months. The numbers show that overall arrests went up, violent crime went down significantly and, in particular, the number of those charged with certain minor crimes increased dramatically.
D.C. Witness was able to get the most accurate list of those actually booked for an offense and facing an initial hearing with an assigned lawyer through the daily lock up lists of all those detained. From Aug. 12 to Oct. 6, D.C. Witness tallied 2,595 arrests for 25 different charges ranging from felonies to misdemeanors.
The investigation revealed that there were 58 percent more arrests in September 2025, during a 12-day period of the surge, compared to the same period in 2024.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), which also collected data on the surge’s first month, overall arrests were up 31 percent to 2,771 between Aug. 7 and Sept. 10.
The agency says major crimes like homicide were down 53 percent, and carjackings down 75 percent from the commensurate period in 2024.
Meanwhile, non-felony charges such as carrying an open container of alcohol went up 500 percent and marijuana-related cases were up 55 percent versus 2024. While possessing up to two ounces of marijuana in DC is legal, it’s still a federal crime.
Assaults on police, ranging from felonies to misdemeanors, increased 70 percent during the crackdown compared to August and September 2024.
