Law and order comes to the District of Columbia

OPINION:

Working in the District of Columbia, I know that everyone knows someone affected by crime. Just last week, my friend’s car was stolen as she stepped out to buy a coffee at Starbucks — at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday, near the Capitol.

So it’s not surprising that President Trump — who complained of the District’s homeless encampments and filth when he visited the city as he battled lawfare on the campaign trail — has decided to “make D.C. safe again” as a resident of the White House.

“It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!!” Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday, declaring he would hold a news conference Monday to “essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C.”

Mr. Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital and gave Attorney General Pam Bondi direct control of the Metropolitan Police Department. He mobilized the National Guard and vowed to remove the city’s homeless encampments.

Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, Mr. Trump can take over the District’s police for 30 days or when Congress enacts a law ending such a takeover, whichever happens first.

The nation’s capital was established as a federal district in 1790 and was governed directly by Congress and federal appointees until 1973. The Home Rule Act allowed residents to elect their mayor and a 13-member city council. Still, Congress “reserves the right, at any time, to exercise its constitutional authority as legislature for the District.”

The D.C. National Guard reports directly to the president and is under his command.

There is no denying the nation’s capital has undergone significant decline since the 2020 George Floyd riots, during which protesters set fire to the historic St. John’s church near the White House. Multiple fires and acts of vandalism plagued our nation’s capital for about a week.

That year, the D.C. Council voted to slash $15 million from the police budget and Mayor Muriel Bowser approved a Black Lives Matter mural to be painted on the street near the White House, with protesters adding the words “Defund the police.”

The MPD employs just over 3,100 sworn officers, down from 3,650 in 2020 and nearly 900 short of Ms. Bowser’s stated goal of 4,000 officers.

Carjackings and auto thefts became so common in 2023 that Ms. Bowser decided to hand out free Apple AirTags to residents so they could track their stolen cars. That year, Deputy Mayor Lindsey Appiah testified before the House Judiciary Committee that the city was in the midst of a crime crisis, as a generational surge in homicides made it one of America’s deadliest cities.

Part of the crime spike was because of the so-called Ferguson effect, where police just stopped making arrests to protect themselves from lawsuits, criminal charges and/or bodily injury. During this period, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia declined to prosecute those arrested, compounding the problem. In fiscal year 2022, the District failed to prosecute 67% of arrests. Although prosecutions have increased in the nation’s capital in recent years, they remained at only 55% last year, slightly more than half.

Although violent crime has declined from 2023’s highs, local gangs have been running roughshod over the city. Last week, a Trump administration staffer, Edward Coristine, was allegedly beaten by a “group of approximately 10 juveniles” in the early morning. The MPD apprehended two 15-year-old suspects and charged them with unarmed carjacking.

“Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16 years old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social about the incident. “They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but it’s going to happen now!”

In May, Mr. Trump swore in Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. At a press conference Thursday, Ms. Pirro said she supports the president’s call for prosecuting more teenagers — as young as 14 — as adults. In the District, youths as young as 15 can be tried as adults.

“Young people are coddled, and they don’t need to be coddled anymore,” Ms. Pirro said. “They need to be held accountable.”

Ms. Bowser has acted cooperatively with the president and Ms. Pirro. Since early July, an 11 p.m. citywide curfew has been in effect for those 17 and younger. It runs through August.

“Federal law enforcement is always on the street in D.C., and we always work cooperatively with them,” the mayor said, referencing crossover with the National Park Service and agencies such as the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in an interview with MSNBC on Sunday.

“We’re going to keep talking to the president, working with his people on the issues that are high priority for him,” she added.

Thanks to Mr. Trump, our nation’s capital will once again be safe and beautiful.