Washington, DC’s political class might scream in fury at Group Trump’s takeover of policing, however we suspect most district residents will likely be relieved: Common individuals put public security first.
The town’s politicians have failed to do this, and the feds have an obligation to behave when the nation’s capital is unsafe.
Even Democrats have been prepared to stomp on DC’s calls for for “house rule” relating to preventing crime: By a vote of 81-14 in 2023, for instance, the Dem-run Senate joined with the GOP-run Home to override the Metropolis Council’s bid to scale back most penalties for violent crime, together with carjackings — and President Joe Biden signed the measure into legislation.
Carjackings, for the file, are nonetheless triple the 2018 stage, a part of a grim wave of youth crime — but metropolis leaders have refused to get critical about stopping the violence.
Nor did President Donald Trump rush to do that: He warned Mayor Muriel Bowser final yr that motion was on the desk; she’s had six months to show issues round — however a number of high-profile current crimes, together with final month’s taking pictures dying of 3-year-old Honesty Cheadle, confirmed she wants assist.
Certainly, as Trump famous, the US capital has extra murders per capita than infamous Mexico Metropolis and Bogotá, Colombia. The murder charge is six occasions New York Metropolis’s.
To drive crime down, this intervention will usher in new assets, together with a whole lot of Nationwide Guard and broader deployment of the federal Park Police.
Be aware, too: The feds share blame for DC’s excessive crime: The US Legal professional for the District of Columbia is answerable for all felony prosecutions within the metropolis — however Biden appointees to the job refused to prosecute over half of native crimes.
We hope neither the Metropolis Council nor Democrats (in Congress or neighboring Maryland and Virginia) attempt to sabotage this intervention. Everybody however the unhealthy guys, and DC’s residents most of all, is a winner if it succeeds.
