AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Nearly 8 in 10 people in Washington, D.C., oppose the president's takeover of the police department, according to a recent poll conducted by The Washington Post. In interviews with NPR, many say that crime is a legitimate problem and they welcome more law enforcement, but they worry that President Trump is using it for his own ends. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Washington.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: When Nancy Barnes first heard the president wanted to take over the D.C. Police and deploy the National Guard, she hated the idea.
NANCY BARNES: I thought that was absurd, and I thought it would not happen.
LANGFITT: Why did you think it was absurd?
BARNES: Because obviously we're not in the middle of a giant riot or anything that would necessitate having the National Guard here.
LANGFITT: Barnes is a former public school drama teacher. She lives in a gentrifying neighborhood on the edge of Capitol Hill. Barnes generally feels safe here, but she also says it can be a free-for-all. Several weeks ago, someone drove a motorcycle down the sidewalk - nearly ran her down. On Friday evenings, upwards of 20 men roar down the street on deafening ATVs, which are illegal in D.C. When Barnes heard federal agents had arrested an ATV driver earlier this month, she had a visceral reaction.
BARNES: But I couldn't help it. Like, it came from my toes. Oh, my God, someone arrested an ATV driver. That's amazing. I just felt like someone was doing something.
LANGFITT: Barnes knows many other neighborhoods face far greater risks, but she also says she'd love to see more law enforcement. Barnes posted her thoughts on Facebook. A friend of hers, DJ Paul, responded sarcastically. Here, he read from his post.
DJ PAUL: (Reading) Yeah, let's call in the military because of these quality-of-life issues you mentioned. That seems like a reasonable response.
LANGFITT: Barnes had never suggested that, and Paul later apologized, adding this in an interview with NPR.
PAUL: This administration is tapping into something that existed already. They're not fabricating something. People don't feel safe.
LANGFITT: Just a 12-minute drive away lies the Deanwood neighborhood. Last February, two people were shot to death in a dilapidated apartment building with blown-out windows. Justina Wilkins-Jordan is sitting on the porch of her hair salon here.
JUSTINA WILKINS-JORDAN: There's a lot of shootings going on. There's a lot of congregation of young people just starting fights, so - and the drug transactions is really heavy.
LANGFITT: Like Nancy Barnes, she wants more security on the streets.
WILKINS-JORDAN: I feel that it's needed to clean up and to be safe in this community.
LANGFITT: But Wilkins-Jordan says she hasn't seen any federal officers in her neighborhood. Even if she welcomes more law enforcement, she says she doesn't trust the president's motives. Wilkins-Jordan thinks he's using Washington's crime problem to expand his power and undermine the city's Democratic leadership.
WILKINS-JORDAN: I think that he wants to destroy the Democratic Party. He knows that he can go into these cities that runs by a Democrat and control it and say, hey, we don't need Democrats. They are not doing an effective job.
LANGFITT: If President Trump were sitting in this chair right now, what would you tell him?
WILKINS-JORDAN: I would say, President Trump, sit down and listen. It's not all about you and the Republicans. You can't control the world. I feel that right now, the reason why he's doing it because he definitely want to be a dictator.
LANGFITT: President Trump insists he's just trying to protect people from what he says is a crime emergency in Washington, even though the U.S. Justice Department has said violent crime here fell to a 30-year low in 2024.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The press says, he's a dictator. He's trying to take over. No. All I want is security for our people.
LANGFITT: D.C. Police crime data shows no reported homicides since August 14 and no carjackings in the past week.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE WHIRRING)
LANGFITT: On the drive back to the office, I came across a fresh crime scene. I spoke with police. Some were laying down white cards on the sidewalk to mark where a half a dozen shell casings had landed.
I'm Frank. I'm with NPR. What happened?
UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: It was just some shots fired in this area.
LANGFITT: Did anyone get shot?
UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: No.
LANGFITT: Witnesses told me two men opened fire at each other across an intersection in front of an auto mechanic shop. Komba Mboma owns the place.
KOMBA MBOMA: You know, some adolescent guys, they're just going crazy, doing wild stuff.
LANGFITT: Have you seen any FBI or National Guard around here?
MBOMA: No.
LANGFITT: And how quickly did the D.C. Police respond to the shooting?
MBOMA: Three minutes - in two minutes, they were here.
LANGFITT: So do you think D.C. needs the National Guard and the FBI doing this stuff on crime?
MBOMA: Not to my knowledge.
LANGFITT: Unlike Wilkins-Jordan, Mboma says police around here are responsive. He thinks they can handle crime on their own. And Mboma says the deployment of federal forces makes people he knows feel less safe. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
