President Donald Trump on Monday announced he is taking over the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department to combat crime in the nation's capital.
"Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people," Trump said in his announcement. "And we're not gonna let it happen anymore. We're not gonna take it."
That claim, however, doesn't align with the Justice Department's statistics that show violent crime in the city is actually at a 30-year low.
Is Washington, D.C., a dangerous place?
"Absolutely not," said Paul Strauss, a longtime shadow Senator who has been in office since 1997. "It's a beautiful city, it's a safe city."
"The problem is that we have a two-tiered system here and the federal government controls a lot of our judicial process and it controls the prosecutorial process," Strauss explained. "So, we have record high vacancies on our superior court because the president hasn't appointed the judges that he should have. And his hand-picked U.S. attorney, initially Ed Martin, fired 60 of the career prosecutors that have been working to prosecute crimes."
"So you have a huge judicial vacancy — that's a federal responsibility. You have a huge number of vacancies in the prosecutor's office — that's a federal responsibility," Strauss added. "That's where the problem is."
Are you concerned this move may introduce new problems?
"The problem is the federal government should do what it's supposed to do and it hasn't," Strauss said. "They should let the heart of the justice system that's been working continue to work. Community-based policing is the most effective kind of policing. You need officers that understand the community. You need officers that are trusted by the community."
"One of the scary things in this executive order is that it's going to be targeting some of the most vulnerable people," he continued. "He's going after the homeless. We know his record on immigrants. And if these communities begin to feel that they can no longer trust the local police, that they can no longer feel safe reporting crimes, coming forward and testifying, that's going to have a terrible impact on our justice system and the community's relationship with its law enforcement community. We don't need National Guard people patrolling the streets."
Do you agree with the D.C. police union chairman, who has voiced support for Trump's move to federalize the police force?
"We could always use more officers and the police union is right in advocating for more resources," Strauss admitted. "In fact, one of the reasons why we don't have the resources that the police need is that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has refused to move on a bill that was passed by the Senate, that has the support of the president, that would restore over $1 billion of locally-raised revenue."
"These are local D.C. tax dollars that residents pay. Not federal money," he added. "But Congress — by a clerical error or some kind of screw up — deleted that billion dollars from the local budget and they haven't passed the necessary legislation to free it. And so, in essence what you have, are House Republicans who have defunded — partially — the police at a time when we really need those resources."
Watch Scripps News' full interview with Sen. Paul Strauss in the video player above.
