“When I arrived on January 20th of last year in Washington, D.C., it was riddled with crime. And now crime is down 87% and we're going for 100.”

The police department's own figures show nothing near 87 percent, and one category moving the other way. As of September 25, 2026 all crime was down 15 percent against the same point in 2025, from 18,647 offences to 15,828, property crime down 18 percent and homicide down 30 percent, while violent crime was up 9 percent. Figures as of August 10, 2026 gave a similar picture: total crime down 20 percent, homicides down 31 percent and violent crime up slightly. Reporting on the same data records that crime in the city had already fallen 29 percent before the National Guard arrived.

The 87 percent figure has a real origin, and that is the claim's best defence. In August 2025 the mayor's office reported carjackings down 87 percent in the 20 days after the federal deployment, against the same period a year earlier. That is one offence category over 20 days, not all crime since January 2025.