Muriel Bowser Asked Point-Blank If She Feels She Is 'Going To Lose Control' Of Washington, D.C.

Forbes Breaking News

During a press briefing on Monday, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser answered a question about her control over the city and the crime rates in the city.

Transcript

00:00Mayor, one more if I could.

00:02Okay.

00:03You testified to Congress after the 2020 racial justice protests,

00:09when there was concern that Trump might take control over MPD at that time,

00:14that that would be a complete disaster,

00:16and that you're worried that you're going to lose control of the city.

00:20Can you reflect on this moment today?

00:23Do you feel that you're at risk of losing control of the city?

00:27Are you worried this is going to be a complete disaster?

00:29I'm going to work every day to make sure it's not a complete disaster.

00:35Let me put it that way.

00:37And I think that with Chief Smith's leadership and her expertise in both the federal space and the local space,

00:48we are going to do our level best to maintain, as the chief talked about,

00:54to maintain the trust that DC residents have in us.

00:58What could be a disaster is if we lose communities who won't call the police.

01:06That could be a disaster.

01:08What would be a disaster if communities won't talk to the police,

01:11if a crime has been committed and could help solve that crime.

01:15That could be a disaster.

01:17It would be a disaster if people who aren't committing crimes are antagonized into committing crimes.

01:25That would be a disaster.

01:27So we are going to work every day to get this emergency put to an end.

01:39So I'll call it the so called emergency and continue to do our work.

01:45And at the same time, make sure that if these are like the law enforcement officers who are caught,

01:52they're leaving their homes, their towns, maybe doing double shifts.

01:58If our National Guard are deployed, they're leaving their primary mission to come.

02:04We don't want their time to be wasted.

02:06We want to be strategic and work with them.

02:11But I'll end by saying this.

02:16If we know the tools that are available to the district,

02:22if we are experiencing a surge in crime,

02:26and I've put them in place before.

02:29It includes curfews.

02:32I've asked the council to pass emergency legislation.

02:38I've asked the Congress for additional funds.

02:42We've done all of those, all of those things.

02:47So there's nobody here, and certainly nobody who works for me,

02:52who wants to tolerate any level of crime.

02:56And I know it's frustrating sometimes to hear if I say our crime numbers have gone down,

03:03yet you've been a victim of crime.

03:05It doesn't matter to you if crime has gone down,

03:08if you were a victim or you know someone who is a victim.

03:11So we understand that.

03:13We work every day to stop crime.

03:18Thank you, everybody.

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