FBI and ICE agents arresting a man. USA Today/Getty.
President Trump announced that he was taking over law enforcement in Washington DC. USA Today. Trump described the city as being overrun by criminals, drug users and the homeless and that it would no longer be tolerated. Trump used the 1973 Home Rule act that allows the President to take over law enforcement for 48 hours, which can be extended to 30 days, or longer with congressional action. Trump will also deploy the National Guard to assist with law enforcement. Trump has cited several high profile attacks, including the most recent attack against DOGE staffer Edward Coristine, the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers in May and the stabbing of a Rand Paul staffer in 2023. Democratic critics say that the crackdown is unnecessary as crime has dropped a bit since its peak. Trump has also threatened to do similar things in other Democrat controlled cities.
My Comment:
I do think this is long overdue. Crime has been out of control in Washington DC for as long as I remember and it's a national embarrassment that our capitol is such a mess. Given that, I am not surprised that Trump is doing this. I think the attack on Edward Coristine was the last straw and it was one that personally angered Trump and many of his friends in the White House. Coristine is a popular figure in the White House and is a media figure as well.
The main argument against the crackdown is that crime is supposedly down. As someone who knows quite a bit about crime statistics reporting, I am obligated to remind you that outside of homicide data, most crime statistics are nonsense. Any police department that is using analytics is vulnerable to people downgrading crimes and failing to report them so their numbers look better. Not to mention that a lot of crimes never get reported given the perception that police are either useless or racist. Both perceptions have gained prominence in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd riots and the abandoning of traditional policing as a response.
Of course, homicide data is pretty much impossible to fudge and it does show that the murder rate is going down. Does that mean much? I am guessing it's just a regression to the mean. The murder rate was out of control since the summer of Floyd and peaked in 2023, with 274 murders that year. This year they have had 99, which is an improvement, largely because the crime wave burned itself out a bit. Such out of control crime isn't sustainable given that the majority of folks being killed are criminals themselves. I think it has more to do with that than anything the Washington DC police are doing.
Regardless, the perception isn't just that crime is out of control, it's the perception that the government won't do anything about it. This crackdown is an effort to look like something is being done, which is an improvement over letting criminals out on no bail. There is also a major loss of face in having a member of the Administration beaten up for no reason and that's not something that will be allowed to stand. I think that even if the crime rate is going down (and that's no sure thing) this is justified because it at least shows that crime will be dealt with, which should have a deterrence effect.
There really isn't any question as to if this is legal or not, but the real question is how effective it will be. I do think that we should see a drop in crime as federal resources are going to be poured into the city. The main problem is that it's a temporary solution. Trump has 30 days without congressional approval and if that doesn't come then the feds are going to go back home. A lot of criminals will probably be swept up in the crackdown, but most will keep their heads low and will be able to weather the storm.
What is needed is a permanent solution. We know that the race-based policing that the Democrats have implemented do not work. I mentioned in the DOGE attack post that instead of keeping the race-based policing we should go back to either or both broken windows policing and community oriented policing. Broken windows means going after smaller crimes to solve and prevent bigger ones while community relations means just that, working with the community to solve crimes. I don't think the crackdown is sustainable unless it is somehow made indefinite (which I doubt) or Democrats finally say goodbye to race based policing.
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