President Trump announced he will unveil a plan this week to “stop violent crime” in our nation’s capital, noting that Washington “has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!!”
Trump is the first president in history to address this national embarrassment with the force and focus needed to solve it. Victims of violent crime in the District of Columbia can’t thank him enough for making it a top priority.
A few years ago, I was attacked by an aggressive homeless man in an attempted robbery less than a block from the White House, arguably the safest area in any city in America due to the heavy presence of local and Secret Service police.
After a pursuit, U.S. Secret Service police officers apprehended the man several blocks away. They placed him under arrest, after which DC authorities released him, despite his record of multiple prior assaults. The U.S. Attorney pressed charges against him, and I was ready to testify at a trial scheduled for several months later. Not surprisingly, he never showed up and remains at large to this day.
Several years before then, when I was working in Trump’s first administration, another aggressive homeless man began shouting and advancing toward a few of us directly across the street from the White House in Lafayette Square.
He pulled a handgun and began to aim it at us when, thankfully, two Secret Service police officers protecting the White House intervened, drew their weapons, and demanded he drop the gun, which he did right away. They arrested him, and we provided statements to them on the incident, but we never heard back from prosecutors.
The mayhem continues. Last week, after a young man was violently beaten by a gang of teenagers while intervening to prevent a carjacking, Trump posted a photo of the bloodied victim online, noting, “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore.”
While some question Trump’s ability to take over the city entirely by revoking so-called “Home Rule,” given predictable opposition from Senate Democrats, Trump has undisputed authority to take important steps immediately to restore order, including federalizing the DC police force, mobilizing the DC National Guard, and stepping up prosecution of violent criminals under his powerful new DC U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro.
While Trump and Pirro are leading the effort toward a swift and permanent solution to the problem of violent crime in the District, local officials should take action right away in four areas to join their effort.
First, enact and enforce aggressive laws against vagrancy and trespassing. A recent Supreme Court ruling recognized the ability of local jurisdictions to do just that, and this allows DC right away to fix the problem of homeless camping out for months within a block of the White House and other federal buildings.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser did shut down some homeless camps earlier this year when President Trump demanded it, but this is not enough. She and her fellow leaders need to use the power the Supreme Court has given them to put in place the strictest laws possible to get dangerous homeless people off our streets, and give them the care they need, including in mental health.
Second, hold suspects in detention following indictments for violent crimes instead of releasing them to appear at a later court date. Particularly with homeless criminals, these individuals often never show up for trial and continue roaming the streets, putting other innocent lives at risk.
Third, expand legal self-defense options for DC residents. Following a series of rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court in the last twenty years, Washingtonians finally can exercise their Constitutional right to carry handguns legally, with proper training and a permit, to protect themselves from violent attacks.
However, DC leaders have placed unrealistic restrictions on those rights, especially by prohibiting properly permitted residents from possessing handguns on public transit. This discriminates against predominantly lower-class law-abiding residents, who often don’t own a car and take public transportation late at night returning home from work with no real ability to defend themselves.
Third, expand rights of residents to use force to defend themselves when their lives are in danger, and to protect others who criminals are attacking. DC needs clear “stand-your-ground” laws instead of its current ambiguous “middle ground” between such laws and a “duty to retreat” when attacked.
Last, DC officials need to make clear that, unlike in New York City with Marine veteran Daniel Perry, well-intentioned citizens who intervene lawfully to protect others who are under violent attack will be given the benefit of the doubt and protected, not prosecuted, for their actions.
President Trump is right to follow through on his campaign promise to restore order and beauty to our nation’s capital. The DC government can and should take commonsense steps right away to help him do just that.
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