I've mentioned before that when I lived in DC, it was drenched in crime. Someone was shot every single day, with an extra on weekends. I myself was mugged at gunpoint twice in 72 hours...and almost shot the second time.
People will point to DC's crime statistics going down over the last few years, but if you live there you might not feel that.
However....
...militarizing the streets doesn't solve the problem.
The prosecution and punishment side of the justice system has not changed under Trump’s emergency order.
Trump’s move is focused on policing: Who controls the D.C. police, whether the National Guard and federal agents supplement patrols, and how encampments and street crime are handled. It’s about who has authority to detain and make arrests, not about what happens after.
Trials still go through the DC courts. Judges and sentencing rules remain the same. Incarceration is still managed by the D.C. Department of Corrections (for local jails) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (for long-term sentences). No new prisons or punishment systems are being created under this plan.
All of those systems are already strained. More policing will just strain them more.
If all happens is more policing on the street, there isn't actually “more justice,” just more strain and dysfunction.
The U.S. Attorney for D.C. already struggles with caseloads. They're already dropping many misdemeanors or lower felonies due to resource limits.
If arrests surge but prosecutors can’t expand capacity, more cases will either get dismissed outright, or never be charged. That's going to lead to a “revolving door” effect: more arrests, same number of prosecutions. And criminals will figure that out real quick.
