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Deputy Mayor Appiah: federal surge required coordination but city worked to limit chaotic patrolling
Summary
Deputy Mayor Lindsay Appiah told the committee that the District sought to pair federal agents with MPD units and embed federal investigators into task forces to avoid chaotic patrolling after the August federal surge; she described a drawdown in numbers and continued emphasis on directing federal resources to violent‑crime priorities.
Deputy Mayor Lindsay Appiah told the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety that the city has worked to manage an unprecedented federal presence that accelerated in mid‑2025. Appiah said the March executive order and the later presidentially declared emergency prompted large numbers of federal agents and National Guard members to deploy to Washington, D.C., sometimes before an orderly coordination strategy was in place.
"We saw agents jumping out in neighborhoods, large groups — just bad policing," Appiah said, adding that the administration favored matching federal personnel to MPD roles they are trained to support rather than deploying agents to patrol neighborhoods as if they were local officers. Appiah said the city sought to pair investigators (FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals) with MPD task forces for homicide, narcotics and carjacking investigations while reducing uncoordinated patrols by federal agents and non‑urban units.
Appiah also described the National Guard’s dual reporting lines and the request‑for‑information process the city uses to obtain Guard support for operational needs such as snow removal or specialized vehicles. She said the drawdown since the end of the emergency reduced overall numbers and that federal partners remain embedded into focused investigative roles rather than general patrolling in most neighborhoods.
Appiah emphasized preserving home rule and repeatedly raised concerns with federal leaders when requested activities did not align with District values or operational needs. She told the committee the District continues to press federal agencies to prioritize violent‑crime work and to avoid ad hoc deployments that could increase risk to residents.
