Using executive powers granted in the Home Rule Act, President Trump has flooded Washington with hundreds of federal agents, from agencies such as the DEA and FBI, as well as Washington, D.C. National Guard soldiers.
President Trump has also taken temporary control of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department. That department, now being overseen by the DEA boss, was led by a police chief who was chief diversity officer before being promoted to lead the department three years.
According to an Axios story, law enforcement has converged on two high-crime areas, Ward 7 and Ward 9, in the city. Those wards are majority-black areas known for violent crime. To date there have been 24 gun-related arrests, 31 narcotics-related arrests, seven DUIs, and two arrests for assault.
The crime crackdown is also targeting the city's homeless population, a source of drug use, crime, and crazed, dangerous harassment of the public. Almost 50 encampments around the city have been cleared.
What is the result? According to the D.C. Police Union, after one week of law and order, robberies are down 48%, carjackings are down 83%, and violent crime is down 22%, in the nation’s capital.
President Trump’s federal takeover, which began August 11, gives him 30 days of executive powers unless he goes to Congress to request more time.
With the clock ticking, the president plans to go to Congress to ask Republicans to extend that 30-day deadline, according to a Daily Signal story.
Randy Sutton, a law enforcement and former police lieutenant, tells AFN crime has dropped in D.C. because of the “surge” in federal resources there.
“Once this surge is over, because it is unsustainable as it is, what's going to be put into place that will curtail crime?” he asks.
Even under ideal conditions, Sutton says, there aren’t enough police officers to replace the 1,000 National Guard troops and the hundreds of federal agents patrolling the streets.
“The criminal justice system has been pretty much destroyed by the liberal policies of the D.C. city council and the mayor,” he says.
Looking ahead to the future, the D.C. Police Union says the streets will be safer if the city council repeals a controversial ordinance, the Comprehensive Police and Justice Reform Act. That ordinance was supposed to reform law enforcement but has weakened police and the courts, the union says.
