 "FBI agents and Secret Service Police officers patrol the Navy Yard neighbourhood, after US President Donald Trump's announcement to deploy the National Guard and federalise the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, US, August 12, 2025. File Image/Reuters")
United States President Donald Trump has claimed that Washington DC’s murder rate surpasses that of several major international capitals and is among the highest in the world.
Speaking at a Monday press conference, Trump unveiled a plan to place the Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and to deploy 800 National Guard troops to the US capital.
Framing the intervention as a decisive step to restore safety, Trump said the city’s rate of violent crime made it comparable to “the worst places on Earth.”
Displaying charts that compared Washington DC’s murder rate to cities worldwide, he declared: “The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia; Mexico City, or some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on Earth. It’s much higher.”
Trump held up a chart that read “DC: 41 per 100,000” and added: “No.1 that we can find anywhere in the world. Other cities are pretty bad, but they’re not as bad as that.”
He also claimed Washington’s murder rate was above those in Brasília, Panama City, and San José, saying, “All is double or triple, so you want to live in places like that? I don’t think so.”
The announcement came alongside an executive order invoking provisions of the Home Rule Act, allowing the president to assume direct oversight of the city’s police in what he called a “crime emergency.”
Trump said the measure was necessary because of “rising violence in the capital” and that his administration aimed to “liberate” Washington from what he portrayed as out-of-control crime.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser strongly objected to the move, calling it “alarming and unprecedented.”
Speaking to reporters, she said she would not “minimise the intrusion on the autonomy” of the city.
Bowser maintained that the local government “continues to operate in a way that makes citizens proud” and pointed out that “nothing has changed” in the Metropolitan Police Department’s organisational chart despite the executive order.
She has met with US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has been delegated authority by Trump to coordinate with city officials.
Trump’s order also builds on his authority over the DC National Guard, which consists of around 2,700 personnel who report directly to the president rather than to local officials, unlike their counterparts in US states.
Dissecting the numbers behind Trump’s claim
The data displayed by Trump at the press conference was first aired on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show” last week.
However, parts of it were based on Washington’s 2023 homicide rate rather than the most recent available figures.
In 2023, the district recorded 274 murders, translating to a homicide rate of 39.4 per 100,000 residents. While this was the city’s highest rate in two decades, it was not the highest ever recorded.
Rates in the 1990s and early 2000s were significantly higher. Nor was it the worst in the world.
According to data from the Brazilian nonprofit Igarapé Institute, at least 49 cities globally had higher murder rates that year. Among capital cities, Cape Town, Kingston, and Caracas all surpassed Washington’s rate.
The White House posted a list that include Bogotá (15.1 per 100,000), Mexico City (10.6), Islamabad (9.2), Ottawa (2.17), Paris (1.64), Delhi (1.49) and London (1.1).
Trump compared Washington’s homicide numbers with Bogotá (15.1), Panama City (15), San José (13), Mexico City (10), Lima (7.7), and Brasília (6.8), citing figures from national statistical agencies and city governments.
These comparisons are broadly accurate for 2023 and 2024, but experts note that homicide is only one measure of safety and that such cross-national comparisons have limitations due to variations in reporting standards and urban boundaries.
Comparing Washington DC to much larger international cities with populations in the millions is not ideal.
What Washington DC crime trends reveal
The sharp rise in murders in 2023 made Washington one of the most dangerous US cities that year, but official figures show a substantial decline since then.
In 2024, the homicide rate dropped to 27.3 per 100,000 people — a 35 per cent decrease in violent crime according to the US Department of Justice, marking the lowest level in more than three decades.
Metropolitan Police Department data indicates the downward trend has continued in 2025.
As of August 11, the city had reported 99 homicides, compared with 112 during the same period in 2024 — a 12 per cent year-on-year drop. Federal statistics also show violent crime overall has fallen 26 per cent in the first seven months of this year compared with the same period last year.
However, there are discrepancies between local and federal data. The MPD reported a 35 per cent fall in violent crime for 2024, while FBI data showed a more modest 9 per cent drop.
Both sets of figures point to a reduction, though they differ on the scale of the decline.
While homicides have been trending down, other violent crime categories have drawn political attention.
Trump highlighted individual cases during his press conference, including the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old congressional intern caught in crossfire and the wounding of a 19-year-old former Department of Government Efficiency employee during an alleged attempted carjacking.
He claimed that “the number of carjackings has more than tripled” in the past five years. Official MPD records show 189 carjacking incidents so far in 2025, down from 300 during the same period in 2024.
Data from the Council on Criminal Justice indicates that carjackings rose sharply after 2020 and peaked in June 2023 with 140 incidents reported in a single month.
Robbery has also seen a significant drop this year, falling 28 per cent compared to the same period in 2024.
One policy response has been the imposition of a citywide curfew since July for individuals under the age of 17, in effect between 11 pm and 6 am.
This measure aims to reduce juvenile crime, which has historically risen during summer months and is often linked to spikes in offences such as carjacking.
Where Washington DC stands in the US
Although Trump suggested Washington might have the highest homicide rate globally, data shows it is not even the highest in the United States.
The February 2024 Rochester Institute of Technology report ranked the district fourth among US cities, behind St. Louis, New Orleans, and Detroit.
Globally, Washington’s 2023 homicide rate was lower than those in dozens of cities, particularly in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean.
However, the district’s rate did exceed those of several major capitals in 2023 and 2024, including the Latin American capitals Trump cited.
Fox also noted that homicide rates in some countries may be underreported or inconsistent due to differences in law enforcement capacity and statistical accuracy, complicating direct comparisons.
Bowser has pointed out the city’s recent gains, highlighting the long-term decline in violent crime and the improvements made since the 2023 spike.
Trump and the DC Police Union, meanwhile, have questioned the reliability of the MPD’s statistics, noting the difference between local and FBI data sets.
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With inputs from agencies