<p><!-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --></p>
<p> <br />
</p>
<div>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Washington, D.C. isn’t just any city, it’s our nation’s capital — where Americans go to conduct the business of our nation and to celebrate our history. More than that, it’s a place many call home.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Unfortunately, thanks to the work of local elected officials and their radical progressive </span><a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/03/25/7-changes-congress-should-make-before-restoring-d-c-s-bloated-billion-dollars-in-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">policies</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">, the District of Columbia is now incredibly unsafe.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">A quick </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcS3wkDf4MU" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">listen</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> to reporters in the White House Press Briefing Room reacting to President Trump’s D.C. crime crackdown shows just how bad things have gotten. Many have personally been victimized in D.C., or at least have friends or family members who have.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">And it’s no wonder. For years, local D.C. Council members have proudly proclaimed their plans to </span><a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/the-dc-city-council-failed-criminal-justice-reform-congress-must-fix-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">decriminalize</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> entire swaths of problematic conduct and to only allow relatively lenient sentences even for those convicted of very violent crimes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">On top of that, council members have touted their plans to </span><a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/dcs-radical-criminal-code-reform-would-make-city-even-less-safe" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">defund</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> the Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) and to impose onerous restrictions on officers while performing their duties.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The result? MPDC is facing a historic staffing crisis, with some saying it will take a decade or more for the force to recover and be fully staffed.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">But, fortunately, President Trump and his administration have stepped in to take action to protect our nation’s capital — something the Framers of our Constitution always </span><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4034744" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">intended</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">. Federal officials have the final say — and responsibility — for what happens in Washington, D.C.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">As provided by the </span><a href="https://dccouncil.gov/dc-home-rule/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">Home Rule Act</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">, the president has directly taken control of the local police force. He has deployed D.C.’s national guard to help patrol and make up for the police department’s manpower shortage, and he has surged federal law enforcement resources — FBI, DEA, ATF, etc. — to help patrol too.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The initial results have been staggering. D.C.’s police union </span><a href="https://x.com/DCPoliceUnion/status/1957435067258577173" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">highlighted</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> that in the first seven days of Trump’s law enforcement surge, carjackings dropped 83% compared to the same period a week earlier. Robberies dropped by 46%. Car thefts dropped by 21%. And violent crime overall dropped by 22%.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Even more shocking and welcome news is that for the first time in a long time, the District went an entire week </span><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-dc-just-had-murder-free-week-yes-dems-trump-did" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">without a murder</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> committed within its borders. That’s even more impressive considering that murder rates tend to spike during the hot and humid summer months.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">While President Trump has </span><a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/trump-patrol-dc-military-law-enforcement-thursday-night-officials-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">joined</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> law enforcement to see firsthand what they experience while patrolling the streets and Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other senior administration officials </span><a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/vp-vance-visits-national-guard-union-station-amid-dc-protests" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">visit and listen</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> to deployed national guard troops around the capital, some local officials seek to frustrate these effective crime fighting tactics.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">For example, D.C.’s Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued the president, claiming that the Home Rule Act — and the Constitution — don’t really mean what they say.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Schwalb </span><a href="https://x.com/DCAttorneyGen/status/1956339474633253098" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">claims</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> that the President can’t really control D.C.’s local police and that any actions must run through local officials — who generally oppose his efforts. There’s no discretion there for the mayor or the D.C. AG to second guess the president. It would be an odd situation for an inferior official to tell the president how to discharge his duties. And yet, that’s exactly what local D.C. officials are trying to do.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&;utm_content=editorialsummersale&;utm_medium=website&;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</b></a></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">But more to the point, it’s unfortunate that local D.C. officials and others on the Left are denying that there’s even a crime crisis in D.C. After all, denying a problem exists doesn’t make it go away.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Thankfully, President Trump and his administration are taking long-overdue and much-needed actions to transform our nation’s capital from a cautionary tale of the harmful results of progressive policies to a shining example of America’s greatness.</span></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><em>Zack Smith is a legal fellow in the Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.</em></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight:400">The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.</span></em></p>
</div>
<div id="payed-article-paywall"><img alt="Create Free Account" src="https://dailywireplus-v2.imgix.net/hostimages1/Frame%201010105171.png"/></p>
<p>Continue reading this exclusive article and join the conversation, plus watch free videos on DW+</p>
<p><button class="subscribeCTA_freeAccountButton__3TBgh" data-paywall-action-type="read:create-free-account" data-testid="continue-reading-button-free" type="button">Create Free Account</button></p>
<p>Already a member?<!-- --> <button class="subscribeCTA_loginButton__LNt6K" data-paywall-action-type="read:login">Log in</button></p>
</div>
<p><br />
<br /><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-week-without-murder-trumps-crackdown-restores-safety-to-washington-d-c">Source link </a></p>
<p><!-- END THEIA POST SLIDER --></p>

Trump’s Crackdown Restores Safety To Washington, D.C.
