The president’s tough on crime policies are to thank for the nation’s capital seeing a dramatic decrease in crime from last year, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

“When you have a president who makes a decision to focus on crime and then tries to figure out what he can do to effectuate a reduction in crime,” Pirro told The Daily Signal, “you’re starting at a good point.”

The nation’s capital has seen only three homicides in 2026 compared to 11 at this time last year.

Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, his administration has taken on a number of measures to improve crime rates in the city, from the War Department deploying the National Guard to the Department of Justice prosecuting more violent criminals.

Washington, D.C., boasted no homicides for the first three weeks in January. Additionally, 2026 has seen 73 robberies, compared to 167 in the same time frame last year. Total violent crime has decreased by 37%.

“President Trump promised to make Washington, D.C. safe and beautiful again—now it is one of the safest cities in the country,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told The Daily Signal. “Thanks to President Trump’s successful federal law enforcement operation, our nation’s capital has seen a dramatic decrease in crime and homicide.”

“Cities across the country with out-of-control crime, like Chicago, should be begging for President Trump’s help,” she added.

National Guard

In August, Trump announced he would federalize D.C.’s police department and deploy National Guard troops across the city.

“Having more law enforcement present visually present is a deterrent in itself,” Pirro said.

She said the coordination between the D.C. Metro Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, and many other agencies was crucial to cleaning up D.C. crime.

“President Trump made it clear that the crime that plagued our Nation’s capital was unacceptable,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who was in charge of the D.C. mission, told The Daily Signal. “Under his leadership, crime in D.C. has been dramatically reduced.”

“Since August, incredible men and women who serve in the National Guard have patrolled the D.C. area,” Driscoll continued. “They have been working hand in glove with law enforcement to keep residents and visitors to our Nation’s capital safe.” 

Prosecuting Violent Criminals

While Biden-era U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves had a 67% declination rate, meaning he did not file the vast majority of charges presented to him by law enforcement, his replacement, Jeanine Pirro, has instructed her prosecutors to bring charges against all criminals with viable cases.

“People in my office are very focused on putting together cases and making sure that we hold people accountable so that kind of brings it down to the street level,” she told The Daily Signal. “When you focus on the chronic offenders, and the drivers of violence and taking guns off the street, the whole city feels it.”

Since the crime crackdown in D.C. began in August, law enforcement have taken almost 1,000 guns off the streets and arrested almost 9,600 people, Pirro said.

One of the most effective things the U.S. Attorney’s Office has done is crack down on guns illegally brought into the District, Pirro said.

“Right now, my prosecutors know to request a hold in all of these cases, so they are going to be held for 36-72 hours at a minimum,” she said. “It’s going to disrupt the gun trafficking, the gun cases, and the message is out there: Don’t get caught with a gun in D.C. Get the guns off the street and out of use, and then you’ve got a city that is safer.”

Cully Stimson, former assistant United States attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C., said Pirro has put a needed emphasis on gun crimes.

“Jeanine Pirro deserves credit for turning the office into a place that is taking crimes seriously,” Stimson told The Daily Signal.

“She’s sending appropriate cases of felon in possession of firearms to federal district court, where most of them are going to get a sentence to prison,” he said, adding that prison sentences are more common in federal courts than superior courts.

Pirro wants to lower the age of responsibility for violent youths so minors who commit violent crimes face the full penalty of the law.

“I am very, very receptive and anxious to prosecute 16 and 17 year olds, but right now I can only do it for the Title 16 crimes, which are murder, sexual abuse, burglary, robbery, and kidnapping,” she said. “You can rest assured that we’re not turning any of those away.”

Pirro wants to reduce the age of responsibility for violent crimes from 16 and 17 to 14 and 15.

“If you got young people who are accustomed to getting away with crimes because people think we need to protect them, then we’re doing nothing but creating the next generation of criminals who the first time they are involved in the actual criminal justice system is with a murder,” she said. “So they’ve already built their way up with no deterrence, so when we get them, it’s probably for a homicide.”

For the rest of the year, Pirro plans to keep solving cases and arresting criminals.

“We’re going to continue to try to close cases, continue to try to get convictions,” she said.

Cold Weather

D.C. has seen its coldest January in eight years and its snowiest in six years.

In the summer, crime rates are the highest because people can comfortably roam the streets, while criminals are more likely to stay home in freezing temperatures.

However, Pirro said there’s more to the Trump administration’s success in lowering homicides than the frigid temperatures.

“You can’t just say, well, it was cold and there was snow. It’s not the first winter it was cold and snowing,” she said.

“I think the message is resonating the only mercy we have is for the victim, the person who never chose to be a part of the system in the first place,” she added.

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