Date: 2025-10-14 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00029055
TOWARDS A TRUMP COUP
TAKING OVER WASHINGTON DC
As Trump tightens grip on D.C., officers say their chief is absent
TAKING OVER WASHINGTON DC
As Trump tightens grip on D.C., officers say their chief is absent
D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith at a news conference on June 9. (Craig Hudson/For the Washington Post)
Original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/22/dc-police-chief-trump-takeover/
The pressure of a partial federal takeover has ratcheted up criticism of the chief from within the department and outside.
Written by Emily Davies, Jenny Gathright, Meagan Flynn and Emma Uber
August 22, 2025
D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith walked into the Seventh District station Tuesday night to take questions from rank-and-file officers for the first time since President Donald Trump seized control of her department.
Many officers hoped that Smith, after more than a week of near silence, was there to make clear she was still their boss and not subordinate to the White House.
Instead, Smith was soon joined by a cadre of Trump administration officials, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole, the man whom Trump had named to displace her. The meeting further muddled the chain of command, officers said in interviews, as D.C. police struggled to understand who, if anyone, was in charge.
“Everyone is still wondering who the chief is,” said one D.C. police officer, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid professional retribution, “because it doesn’t appear to be her.”
This account of a department in turmoil is based on interviews with a dozen current and former D.C. police officers, as well as half a dozen officials at the White House, the mayor’s office and elsewhere in city government. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters and because of the tense relationship between D.C.’s elected officials and the federal government.
The question of who is in command of D.C. police is central to an existential fight over the future of Washington, as the White House and D.C. government vie for control. The Trump administration last week tried to effectively replace Smith with Cole, leading D.C. officials to go to court to keep the city’s chief in charge.
White House border czar Tom Homan, left, and DEA Administrator Terry Cole, center, return to the White House on Aug. 12. (Eric Lee/For The Washington Post) Smith, as a central figure in that struggle, has emerged as a symbol of the city’s independence. In an interview, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) strongly defended the chief, whom she handpicked just two years ago.
But at times during the past two weeks, the chief has disappeared amid the pressure and alienated her staff, 10 current and former police officers said in interviews.
Even before the federal incursion began, criticism of Smith within the department had mounted, and some officers who had initially supported Smith turned against her.
Smith became known for berating her staff at crime briefings and meetings of the command and executive staff, embarrassing commanders over minor missteps or behavior she perceived as a slight to her authority, eight current or former D.C. police officers said.
Smith transferred high-ranking officials to less desirable shifts and positions after they raised concerns about her policies, moves that some of the rank and file perceived as retaliatory and resulted in a chilling effect across the department, according to three current and former officers.
The challenge that hit the department with Trump’s Aug. 11 order asserting federal control amplified those concerns — though some officers sympathized with the difficulties of her position.
“It can’t be easy. I don’t think she’s a bad person or a bad manager,” one veteran police officer said. “Every big boss is going to have their detractors. As a chief she has held her ground and said, ‘let’s get through this together,’ and I think that’s the best leadership can do.”
In an interview, Bowser described Smith as a “solid leader” who has been engaged around-the-clock since Trump issued his executive order to impose federal control on the D.C. police.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) outside the U.S. District Court in D.C. last week. (Kent Nishimura/For The Washington Post) Maybe Smith could have sent more emails to her staff, Bowser said, “but I can tell you the impactful work of helping me to respond to the federal surge she has been doing.”
“The chief has been engaged 24/7 in making sure that we had a strong case to maintain control of MPD,” Bowser said.
She added that, having worked with four police chiefs in her tenure, there are always going to be internal complaints. “This chief and all chiefs get criticism from the front line all the way up to the white shirt,” she said.
“It’s hard for anybody to have to be involved in a lawsuit when the president of the United States is involved, okay?” Bowser continued. “That’s hard. That’s not easy. Some people would have quit. People would have walked away. But this woman knows that she has a job to do.”
Women are dramatically underrepresented in law enforcement leadership. The latest Justice Department data shows that women account for about 14 percent of sworn officers and about 16 percent of police chiefs of departments in major cities. That scarcity means female chiefs can run up against staff shaped by overwhelmingly male culture and expectations, and women in leadership are often judged differently than men, the mayor noted.
Smith declined to answer questions about her leadership, other than to say she remained engaged with her staff.
Asked to respond to concerns about her sparse communication with her force, Smith denied that she was disengaged. She had attended some roll calls at the U.S. Park Police headquarters, she said. “We’re still out and about,” she added.
Smith, a longtime Park Police officer, introduced herself to the District two years ago as the “pistol packin’ preacher” — the first Black woman to permanently lead the police force in D.C., a historically Black city, a rousing orator who knew how to work with federal law enforcement and connect with D.C. neighborhoods reeling from violence. Bowser tapped her to take charge at a time when the city was experiencing a historic spike in violence — the most homicides in a quarter-century — and rampant carjackings.
Bowser has given the chief high marks for meeting that challenge: Crime in the District has fallen substantially over the past two years, parallel with the declines in most major U.S. cities.
Smith at the Somewhere retailer during a neighborhood walk. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
At the same time, the Justice Department has begun investigating whether the department manipulated data to make crime rates appear lower — adding to the heat Smith faces.
Inside the department, many officers who spoke to The Washington Post said she has not met the moment.
The day Trump asserted federal control over the police force, it took Smith more than eight hours to say anything to her officers. At 6:42 p.m., she sent a department-wide email framing the federal role as a collaboration that was “nothing new.” She promised that commanders would soon provide details to officers about how that collaboration would affect operations.
Days passed, and the chief offered no new clarity. Officers started circulating memes mocking her, including one that depicted Trump embracing Smith, Cole, Bowser and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Meanwhile, Cole and Miller had started making their presence felt. Miller addressed officers at the department’s headquarters last week, telling them they had the support of the federal government and not to worry about negative community perceptions, according to a person briefed on his statements.
Cole showed up at roll calls across the city. He listened to officers gripe about a lack of adequate police cars and the woeful disrepair at some police stations.
“Our young officers are looking up to the feds now,” said one high-level D.C. police official. “We’re losing our department, and they don’t have to take us over.”
A D.C. police officer on U Street NW last week. (Craig Hudson/For the Washington Post)
Since the federal takeover began, D.C. police officers have been patrolling the streets alongside federal troops, unsure of how their jobs were supposed to change. The confusion and frustration has been most profound around immigration enforcement, a priority for the Trump administration.
Before last week, D.C. law and police policy prohibited officers from asking people about their immigration status or helping arrest them for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Late last week, Smith ordered the department to increase collaboration with federal immigration enforcement agencies — an order that Bowser acknowledged she did not know about in advance and which caught the officers tasked with implementing it by surprise, according to five officers.
Since then, D.C. police officers working on an initiative that targets the illegal operation of mopeds and scooters — an effort Smith started in response to growing safety concerns about the vehicles — have been accompanied by ICE agents. Before last week, the operation resulted mostly in arrests for driving without a license and immediate releases. ICE officials are now using the stops to determine the immigration status of the drivers and detain them for deportation if they are in the United States illegally, according to three D.C. police officers.
Several police officers said they were concerned the partnership with federal officers, especially ICE, could rupture hard-earned trust in neighborhoods across the city, which is key to fighting crime.
“We are just out here to make sure D.C. residents are safe,” said one D.C. police officer, who wanted Smith to pause the moped initiative. “Impounding an unregistered scooter takes care of that problem,” the officer said, referring to traffic safety. “The immigration enforcement aspect, to me personally, is a bridge too far.”
Smith offered no explanation to rank-and-file officers about why she changed the policy, five of them told The Post. The question of whether D.C. police must comply with federal orders to assist with immigration enforcement remains the subject of litigation and awaits a judge’s ruling. In the meantime, Smith has offered little clarity to her officers about how they should engage with ICE.
Smith spent most of her career at the U.S. Park Police. (Allison Robbert/For The Washington Post) Bowser said the department’s legal team was “trying to be responsive to things that the officers were being asked to do that may have been in conflict with the existing orders.” The mayor also said commanders are expected to provide guidance to officers, which could change each day.
Still, some of Smith’s staff wanted the chief to make clear that she was in control of the department and equipped to support them as the nation watched their every move. They saw her absence as reflective of a leadership style many had complained about for years.
Some officers had been skeptical of Smith since she was named chief. They were used to leaders who had come up through the ranks, rising from beat cops in D.C. neighborhoods to managerial roles. Smith, by contrast, was elevated to chief after spending most of her career at the Park Police.
Doubts about her leadership grew amid concerns about transfers and other personnel actions that some in the department saw as retaliatory.
“The fear and retribution that come from the top right now is different than I’ve ever experienced,” said veteran D.C. police Capt. Paul Hrebenak, who filed a lawsuit against the department in December, alleging that senior leaders retaliated against him for taking parental leave as a gay man.
“People are beaten down, they’re yelled at, they’re blamed for things — aside from this kind of clique or small group that seems to benefit from favoritism,” he said while discussing the lawsuit.
Nearly every high-level civilian official who was in place when Smith took over the department has left or has announced plans to leave. The departures included the longtime chief of staff. The chief administrative officer is leaving next month.
The increasing scrutiny on the police force has brought attention to long-standing complaints within the department about crime data. Since before Smith’s tenure, detectives have complained to each other and to supervisors that managers reclassified crimes to downplay the level of danger in their police districts and avoid scrutiny from higher-ups.
A pedestrian passes by a police vehicle on U Street NW last week. (Craig Hudson/For the Washington Post) Data could be misleading if officers categorized a shooting as endangerment with a firearm instead of assault with a deadly weapon, for example, according to several current and former officers.
Those concerns mounted after the department’s Third District commander, Michael Pulliam, was placed under investigation for alleged manipulation of data and the police union went public with concerns that police managers were under-classifying crimes to make the city appear more safe.
Several current and former D.C. police employees interviewed by The Post said they doubt that Pulliam intentionally misled the public. Pulliam had in the past reported one of his supervisors for allegedly under-classifying crimes, and the department’s Internal Affairs Division investigated and partially substantiated his claims, according to two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Violent crimes, which include homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, rape and robbery, fell 35 percent from 2023 to 2024, D.C. police data shows. In that same time, FBI data shows, those crimes decreased 13 percent nationwide.
Crime data is always imperfect and imprecise, but overall trends can be trusted, experts say. Jeff Asher, a crime data analyst and co-founder of AH Datalytics, said the D.C. police’s public crime data webpage probably overstates the drop in violent crime, but the discrepancy comes from unintentional data reporting issues, not intentional manipulation, he believes.
“Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, and there’s not really evidence of intentional misreporting right now,” said Asher. “Crime data being underreported is not evidence of any sort of conspiracy — nine times out of 10, it has some sort of benign explanation.”
Smith, at a Wednesday news conference, declined to discuss the investigation into crime data, which she said was still active.
Outside of the police department, others have praised the chief for remaining engaged with community groups during a highly uncertain time. On Tuesday, she spent two hours at the D.C. Nightlife Council’s meeting to answer questions from restaurant and bar owners.
Several asked for guidance about their rights or how to interact with ICE if agents tried to enter their business.
“The Latino community is scared,” one person said.
One advisory neighborhood commissioner pressed Smith for a more “educated response” that he could take back to his community.
“To be honest, I don’t have an educated response other than to educate yourself on what the laws are with respect to federal officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Smith told him.
Smith suggested there was little she could do to address the community’s concerns about immigration enforcement in D.C.
Trump was in charge of that.
Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.
correction A previous version of this article listed aggravated assault as one of four offenses tallied for data on violent crimes. The offense is assault with a deadly weapon. Trump presidency
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