Trump put thousands of soldiers on Washington’s streets.
asserted
Trump → put → streets
They seldom stop crime
asserted
They → stop → crime
Well past midnight one day this spring, three police officers pulled up to a nightclub where a man was stomping on a young woman lying on the sidewalk.
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man → pull → sidewalk
The officers stopped the attack and arrested him, according to a police report.
uncertain
officers → stop → report
It was the kind of assault police might encounter on almost any night in almost any city.
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police → encounter → city
But one detail stood out to police officer Xavier Jimenez, who wrote the report: “There was approximately 15 national guard members in the area on routine patrol who did not take any action.”
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who → stand → action
President Donald Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops to Washington last summer as the centerpiece of what he describes as a no-holds-barred effort to combat crime, especially in cities run by Democrats.
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he → deploy → Democrats
Every day, small clots of soldiers in camouflage and body armor patrol tourist-heavy areas of the U.S. capital, including national monuments, subway stations and the area around its professional baseball park.
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clots → patrol → park
What the soldiers seldom do, Reuters found, is fight crime.
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Reuters → find → crime
Since their arrival last August, the National Guard soldiers Trump ordered to Washington have been mentioned in only a tiny fraction — about 1.3% — of the criminal cases filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, which handles nearly all the city’s criminal prosecutions.
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which → order → prosecutions
In dozens of cases, the soldiers appear not as people making the arrests but as victims of crime.
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soldiers → appear → crime
The roughly 4,500 soldiers currently deployed to Washington outnumber its 3,200 police officers.
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soldiers → deploy → officers
And they cost more: The Trump administration last year told Congress that sending guardsmen to the capital cost about $1.65 million a day – before officials doubled the number of troops this summer.
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officials → cost → troops
The administration told Congress it plans to keep sending soldiers to Washington – though it has not said how many – until the end of Trump’s presidency in 2029 at a cost of $1.4 billion.
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it → tell → billion
To gauge the impact of that deployment, Reuters reviewed every publicly available charging document filed in Superior Court and interviewed lawyers, residents, service members and others who are familiar with their work.
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who → gauge → work
The soldiers mostly responded to minor incidents in neighborhoods that are wealthier, whiter and less dangerous than the rest of the capital, Reuters found after comparing court records to the city’s demographics and crime information.
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Reuters → respond → demographics
Reuters could find no reference in court records to soldiers doing any kind of law enforcement in the neighborhoods where about 82% of the city’s 859 murders occurred over the past five years.
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% → find → years
The White House did not respond to questions about soldiers’ work.
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House → respond → work
Spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Trump’s efforts in the city have “driven down crime, beautified the city, and improved quality of life for countless individuals.”
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efforts → say → individuals
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has called the deployment “problematic,” declined to comment, as did the city’s police department.
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department → call → deployment
The National Guard taskforce managing the Washington deployment did not respond to questions about its work or its cost.
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taskforce → manage → work
A spokeswoman, Leona Hendrickson, said soldiers were too busy to be interviewed.
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soldiers → say → ?
Although soldiers have sometimes broken up fights or assaults, many of the crimes for which they detained people have been minor.
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they → break → people
In October, soldiers chased down a man who had taken two slices of pizza and offered $2 as partial payment, according to police records.
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who → chase → records
A week later, they stopped a man who threw a rock at a bus.
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who → stop → bus
In April, they detained a man who allegedly stole two beef jerky sticks worth about $7 from a pharmacy, according to the report.
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who → detain → report
Last month, six soldiers held a woman who drank a bottle of root beer without paying.
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who → hold → beer
The Rev. William Young, who lives in the Navy Yard neighborhood where soldiers patrol frequently, laughed when asked whether the troops made him feel safer.
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him → live → neighborhood
“It’s a way of keeping fear in all of us,” he said.
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he → ’ → us
“This is not how a capital of democracy should be protected, by having soldiers marching to protect the streets.”
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soldiers → protect → streets
‘THEY COULD HAVE DONE MORE’
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THEY → do → MORE
Reuters found 217 criminal cases in Washington in which police mentioned the involvement of the National Guard.
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police → find → Guard
In about a quarter of them, 62 cases, soldiers single-handedly stopped people suspected of a crime, often for things like shoplifting or jumping turnstiles to avoid paying subway fare.
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soldiers → stop → fare
In another 43 cases, soldiers helped police officers arrest someone.
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officers → help → someone
Videos obtained by community groups also show troops in groups of 20 or more stationed outside subway stations at night, blocking teens from descending the escalators to enforce a city curfew.
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troops → obtain → curfew
“It’s like they brought people here from all across the country, just to be here.
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they → ’ → country
And they harass people a lot more than they are actually doing police work,” said the Rev. Norman Nixon, the pastor of the Union Temple Baptist Church.
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Nixon → harass → Church
Although the guardsmen have been deputized as U.S. Marshals, according to government records, they have limited law-enforcement power.
uncertain
they → deputize → power
The Defense Department has described their work as “presence patrols,” a show of force meant to deter crime rather than respond to it.
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Department → describe → it
They can detain suspects, but then must call police officers to make a formal arrest.
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They → detain → arrest
…and 38 more, not listed.
