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The Trump administration is intensifying its push to combat high levels of crime in the nation’s capital, revealing on Oct. 30 a new recruitment campaign soliciting elite federal officers for the streets of Washington, D.C.
The administration unveiled an online portal, at SafeDC.gov, to enlist experienced law enforcement personnel for deployment in Washington, to address vacancies in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Park Police. Assignments in the District of Columbia will last up to 12 months, according to the portal.
“Join the multi-agency task force in D.C. and nationwide dedicated to keeping our streets safe and our cities strong,” reads the website.
The online portal directs individuals to confirm their eligibility by reviewing positions on USAJOBS.gov, where they can find postings for law enforcement, veterans, and civilians.
The Trump administration is looking to recruit “highly qualified and specifically trained individuals,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.
In March, Trump issued Executive Order 14252, Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful. This order created the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which is made up of various federal agencies carrying out both law enforcement and beautification efforts.
In August, the president issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the capital city, resulting in a multi-agency law enforcement task force being deployed there.
Trump has since said the federal deployments led to a sharp reduction in crime in Washington.
The portal connects with the federal employment repository, featuring offers for officers to join the U.S. Park Police, the National Park Service’s enforcement division. Solicitations started Sept. 29, according to the listings.
The administration seeks law enforcement for “National Park Service icons and symbols of democracy,” the announcement reads. Recruits are required to have expertise in firearms, and novice appointees could qualify for incentives as high as $70,000 over four years.
Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel announced earlier this month that nationwide crime crackdowns under initiatives like Operation Summer Heat have resulted in more than 28,000 arrests of violent criminals and the rescue of 5,400 missing children over the previous seven months.
In Washington alone, federal agencies, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Department, have arrested nearly 2,200 individuals since the federalization began in August. The National Guard deployment in the city was recently extended to the end of November.
In early September, figures showed more than 1,900 arrests in the capital city, with 200 illegal guns seized and additional drug recoveries from joint FBI-led actions. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt underscored these efforts, saying that authorities were “removing career criminals from the streets” while building cooperation between federal and local forces.
Kimberly Hayek is a reporter for The Epoch Times. She covers California news and has worked as an editor and on scene at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2018 migrant caravan crisis.
