National Guard assistance will have 'big impact': DC police union chief

(NewsNation) — President Trump's Washington, D.C., takeover is becoming closer to a reality.

On Monday, Trump vowed to place the D.C. police department “under direct federal order” and deploy the National Guard, as a part of what he called "liberation day in D.C." The operation is a part of Trump's promise of cracking down on crime and homelessness in the city.

Trump said he will have 100-200 National Guard troops assisting law enforcement.

Gregg Pemberton, D.C. police union chief, tells (CUOMO) that he and his department are fully on board with receiving the extra hand.

“I think they will have a big impact on actually being able to make arrests and do investigations. So, we welcome all of this help," Pemberton said Monday.

Pemberton says he agrees with Trump's assessment that crime in the D.C. area is out of control, and says that dates back to 2020, when D.C. City Council passed legislation that handcuffed police officers and made it impossible to charge criminals.

"Since then, we are now down 800 sworn positions. Our authorized strength is 4,000 sworn officers. We currently have 3,180. So, more than 800 vacancies here on the police department."

"The way that the department makes up for that shortage is through two million hours of mandatory overtime, which just adds to the burnout and the attrition rate here in the city. This is the main reason we can't get a handle on crime ourselves."

In terms of how the National Guard can help officers, Pemberton pointed out that it will help despite having certain limitations.

The takeover is only expected to last 30 days, and troops who are deployed to the area are not expected to openly carry weapons.

"They will be there establishing a presence and letting people in these neighborhoods know that there are folks with law enforcement capabilities active in those areas," Pemberton said. "And they can always report directly to police officers as to what they see or what they are observing."

Pemberton acknowledged the federal officers will be receiving some "handholding" from D.C. police to show them where crime is happening and how.