Trump tapped Terrance Cole as part of an extraordinary acquisition of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
Trump declares a public safety emergency in DC and manages police
President Donald Trump has invoked the Home Rules Act to control DC police amid his crime concerns.
WASHINGTON – Working in one top job for famous impatient President Donald Trump is difficult enough. Imagine the uncomfortable position Trump’s new interim federal police chief has found himself.
As part of his federal federal acquisition of law enforcement in his extraordinary capital on August 11, Trump tapped the newly confirmed Drug Enforcement Agency chief “Terry” Call and also led one of the nation’s largest and most dysfunctional police departments as part of the broader Justice Department acquisition.
All eyes are on Cole as he tries to keep Trump’s promise to sharply reduce violent crime.
Cole took over to the DEA on July 23 following a confirmation from the Senate, and oversaw staff of 10,000 agents and other staff.
But now Cole will also take over the top job at the Metropolitan Police Department.
In the same breath as telling Cole about his new position, Trump actually described him on August 11 as “our new DEA administrator, he is one of the tops in the country.”
“He’s better,” Trump added, seeing his new appointee. “Terry, otherwise I have to drive you away very quickly.”
Cole could face harsh opposition from Washington officials, including city council and federal representative Eleanor Holmes Norton.
It was unclear how police ranks and how MPD police unions would respond to being run by the Trump administration.
“I fully agree with the President that crime in the District of Columbia is out of control and that something needs to be done with it,” Union Secretary Greg Pemberton told Fox News.
Congressional Democrats also criticized his decision to send National Guard troops to cities to buy up the MPD and lower the crime rate that DOJ itself said was the lowest in 30 years.
Cole also needs to bring results to Attorney General Pam Bondy, who Trump was responsible for the overall acquisition of DOJ. And he will have another direct boss in the US Gadhias “Gadi” Seralta ex.
DEA careers and state homeland security jobs
Cole has experience working with local law enforcement agencies and juggling many of the responsibilities.
From 2023 onwards this year, he served as Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security for Virginia Governor Glen Youngkin. In that role, he oversaw public safety agencies in 11 states, consisting of over 19,000 employees, and managed an annual budget of $5.7 billion.
At DEA, the DEA, one of Cole’s top priorities is reducing drug fuel violence in America’s most affected cities through expanded partnerships with state and local law enforcement.
Cole was praised by Trump and Patel on Monday, and 545 people were arrested in an interagency operation in northern Virginia between the FBI and local government.
“What are we going to bring to DC? What have we done in northern Virginia thanks to Terry Cole and Gov. Youngkin and his team,” FBI director Kash Patel told reporters.
“We said, let’s have good cops, let’s get our intelligence and what they need, and let them get out of their way. “And that’s exactly what we did.”
Submissions in New York, DC, Colombia and Afghanistan
Prior to his stint in Virginia, Cole was a respected 22-year career agent and supervisor at the DEA, serving in Oklahoma, New York, Washington, and Columbia, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Before resigning in 2020, Cole served as proxy regional director for the DEA in Mexico, Canada and Central America. He also served as a police officer in New York State.
Michael Brown, one of Cole’s former DEA colleagues, said he was “a little surprised” by the announcement, but Cole is left to work.
“I know Terry well, and the guy can handle the DEA and the DC police department,” says Brown, former DEA operations chief.
“So he’s introducing command staff at the DC police station and has command staff at the DEA, so he’s going to fill up his hands,” Brown said. “But I have all the confidence in the world that he can do it.”
However, reducing DC crime is just one of Cole’s duties. The other is to manage Trump’s expectations. And the president suggested that he hopes Cole will tackle the troublesome issues and the troublesome issues of culture wars, with police with a proud history of black leadership.
Seeing Cole, Trump told him “stricken” to the police.
“You have a lot of good people. There are people who shouldn’t be there. … They got there because they woke up,” Trump said. “But you have a lot of great police and those people want to help you.”
An alliance of the DC police union?
Greg Pemberton, chairman of the DC Police Union, appeared to be welcoming the move. “I fully agree with the President that crime in the District of Columbia is out of control, so something needs to be done,” Pemberton appeared on Fox News.
The union president said in 2020, the DC City Council passed “a huge amount of law” and passed that officers were subjected to administrative, civil and even criminal liability “even if they did the job properly.” As a result, the department currently has 3,180 sworn police officers, down 800 from the approved strength of 4,000.
“So the fact that we need help from federal law enforcement and perhaps not surprising even from the National Guard,” Pemberton said.
But Pemberton said, “It’s very important to know that in order to make sure it doesn’t fade and flow, and that the federal government comes in and lowers the crime, then they leave and we hold our bags, people need to amend the fundamental law so that they can actually have staff properly at this police station to properly police the city.”
