Alongside the taxis waiting outside Union Station in Washington DC, the sight of uniformed troops standing next to armoured military vehicles has been greeting passengers getting off their trains.

It is a striking symbol of President Trump's efforts to tackle a crime emergency in the US capital, which has seen his administration take over its police department and send National Guard troops, FBI and ICE agents on to the streets.

Trump says his crime crackdown, which began on 11 August, has had an immediate effect: The numbers are down like we wouldn't believe, but we believe it.

And he has claimed that it has led to an extended period of time without any murders, a trend he says has not been seen in the city in decades.

So what do the crime figures show?

Violent crime has fallen

There has been a significant fall in overall violent crime since the crackdown started, according to Washington's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

It recorded 75 violent crimes from 12-26 August, a drop of 23% on the previous two weeks.

Property crimes, such as burglary and vehicle theft, fell by about a quarter over the same period.

There was a smaller fall in the crime of assault with a dangerous weapon and an increase in recorded sex abuse.

US crime analyst Jeff Asher says this may not reveal the whole picture though.

Reporting [of crime] always lags so some of that decline is likely artificial. You probably need six weeks or so for incident-based reporting to catch up and make a comparison of the most recent period.

MPD figures also show violent crime has fallen in the city over the past fortnight compared to the same period last year.

Trump has repeatedly criticized police figures - which showed violent crime falling in 2024 and so far in 2025 - but we cannot find instances of him publicly rejecting the latest police data showing another fall during his crime crackdown.

More than 1,000 people arrested

US Attorney General Pam Bondi has been posting a daily tally of arrests since the DC takeover started.

On August 25, she posted there had been 1,007 arrests.

She has not given a detailed breakdown but US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said nearly half were illegal criminals who never should have been in this country to begin with.

The MPD said from August 11 to August 25, 2025, it made 1,048 arrests - it would not give a breakdown either.

The Office of the US Attorney General for DC, Jeanine Pirro, told us 88% of arrests during this period have led to charges being filed.

Criminologists caution against citing arrest figures as a measure of successful crime intervention, highlighting potential issues in the prosecutions.

Pressure on the court system

The impact of the arrests and charges was evident when BBC Verify visited DC's District Court. Some defendants have found themselves facing federal offences, leading to longer jail time.

Lawyers indicated that the court was struggling to manage the increased caseload, with one judge warning that suspects were being held longer than necessary.

If there's going to be a surge in prosecutions, there has to be a surge in the protection of human dignity, he said.

What about murders?

On 22 August, Trump claimed it was the first time in years that DC hadn’t seen a murder in a week. This trend was correct for that week but not unique. Police data showed several similar instances earlier this year with no reported homicides, indicating a historical context that might undermine the novel nature of the claim.

Although the last reported homicide prior to Trump's statements stood on 13 August, a subsequent fatal shooting occurred on 26 August.