FBI agents assist DC police to prevent violent crime, carjackings in overnight shifts: report

FBI agents are assisting Washington, D.C., police to prevent violent crime and carjackings in overnight shifts, according to a report.

The reported assistance comes as President Trump has threatened a federal takeover of the nation's capital and is considering deploying the National Guard. The threats come after the high-profile assault earliert this month of former Department of Government Efficiency staffer Edward Coristine. The 19-year-old was assaulted by a group of juveniles whom police say were trying to carjack a vehicle in a popular restaurant-nightclub district in the city's Northwest corridor.  

The rate of violent crime in the nation's capital has declined since roughly the end of the pandemic. The number of arrests related to juvenile crime is also down, but it remains a persistent problem in D.C.

An anonymous U.S. official told The Washington Post that Trump's decision to call up the Guard could come as soon as Monday, when he plans to hold a news conference on plans to curb violent crime and homelessness in the nation's capital. 

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser's office said it has not been briefed by the White House on any plans to deploy the National Guard to the city.

The Trump administration in recent days has authorized up to 120 agents, largely from the FBI's Washington Field Office, to work overnight shifts for at least a week with D.C. police and other federal law enforcement officers, according to the Post's unnamed sources. FBI agents from outside D.C., including Philadelphia, have also been dispatched, they said.

“Agents from the FBI Washington Field Office continue to participate in the increased federal law enforcement presence in D.C., which includes assisting our law enforcement partners,” the FBI told the Post on Sunday.

While FBI agents generally do not have the authority to make traffic stops, their roles could include supporting other agencies during them, per the sources.

Local law enforcement often works with federal authorities on patrolling federal land, but usually the U.S. Park Police and Secret Service, which have more experience patrolling streets, do this work.

An anonymous White House official told the Post that the Secret Service has also been directed to launch special patrols in D.C.