PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — President Donald Trump said he is putting the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control, calling crime in the nation’s capital a public safety emergency.
However, data shows that crime is at a 30-year low in Washington. District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said the Trump administration’s actions “are unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful.”
Trump also said his police takeover won’t stop at Washington. In remarks at the White House on Monday, he talked about expanding the effort to other cities that are Democratic strongholds, like Philadelphia, though legal experts argue he would be on shakier ground.
Washington’s Home Rule Charter does allow the president to take over the police department for up to 30 days, in the case of an emergency. But Claire Finkelstein, founder and faculty director of Penn Law’s Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, said there doesn’t appear to be an actual emergency.
“It is not the case that D.C. is having a crime wave,” she said.
But the president does have that power because Washington is not a state. She said the 10th Amendment protects other jurisdictions.
“They do not have the vulnerability D.C. has to having the president take over and actually run their police force,” she explained.
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“There’s no authority and, indeed, there’s a constitutional principle preventing him from taking control of state and local officials in that way,” echoed Craig Green, Temple University professor and chair of law and government. “There’s an anti-commandeering principle.”
And yet, both Finkelstein and Green said Philadelphia and other cities should be preparing for the Trump administration to try to seize control, given the president’s remarks. Green has faith in the courts.
“The courts have not thus far stood up and drawn lines and said no further than this, but I have to think they would if he tried to do something like that in Philadelphia or Seattle or Chicago,” said Green.
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“The fact that something is not legal doesn’t mean the president won’t do it,” added Finkelstein. “Federal law is very much in flux, and we see the Supreme Court taking an ever more sympathetic approach toward presidential power, making it very difficult to litigate these cases.”
She said a state or city could file a federal suit if the president attempted a takeover, but those are lengthy and unpredictable. A federal takeover might also spark protests, but she said they could, in turn, be used as a pretext for further federal control.
Philadelphia officials did not respond to requests for comment about whether they are preparing for action from the Trump administration.