Aug. 18 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump's declaration of a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., has again placed military soldiers on the streets of an American city.
Despite data from local law enforcement showing a prolonged decline in the rates of violent crime, the president has invoked Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, a provision that allows Trump to commandeer control of the Metropolitan Police Department, declare a state of emergency and unleash federal resources on the district.
The move is unprecedented according to academics, historians and a former district official who spoke with UPI.
"The federal government has the power to dictate terms to the city," Chris Myers Asch, a visiting history professor at Colby College in Maine and author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital, told UPI. "In that sense, this is really about power. This is about power, not really about crime. President Trump is doing this in D.C. because he can. He's taking this sliver of authority and pushing it to its fullest extent."
Trump's orders
