District of Columbia

Trump Administration to Put F.B.I. Agents on Night Patrol in Washington

The move is part of President Trump’s pledge to crack down on street crime in the nation’s capital.


Federal Park Police performed a traffic stop in Washington on Friday. President Trump has ordered federal law enforcement to help fight crime in the capital. Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

By Devlin Barrett
Aug. 10, 2025, 8:03 p.m. ET

The Trump administration plans to temporarily reassign 120 F.B.I. agents in Washington to nighttime patrol duties as part of President Trump’s crackdown on the city’s street crime, according to people familiar with the matter.

Most of the agents will be pulled from their regular duties at the F.B.I.’s Washington field office, but it was not immediately clear if agency leaders would need to pull additional personnel from nearby cities, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe details of an effort that were not meant to be public.

In a statement, an F.B.I. spokeswoman said agents were “participating in the increased federal law enforcement presence in Washington,” and referred additional questions to the White House. … The temporary reassignments were first reported by The Washington Post.

Mr. Trump has said that crime in Washington is spiraling out of control. While statistics show that violent crime in the city hit a 30-year low last year and is down another 26 percent so far this year, youth crime has been a persistent problem for city officials.

{snip}

Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.