Mendelson urged trust in MPD, citing a 30-year low in violent crime. Community leaders and residents are speaking out following President Donald Trump’s decision to place the D.C. police department under federal control. Violent crime in the District is at the lowest rates we've seen in 30 years. Calling out the National Guard is an unnecessary deployment with no real mission. And in the last two years where we have been laser focused on driving down crime, we have decreased violent crime by nearly 50% of what it was, yielding the lowest violent crime numbers our city has seen in 30 years.