00:00All right, so here we are at the White House, the night the Trump administration took over control of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
00:11And the number one thing you notice driving around D.C. and walking around is the fact that D.C. is a ghost town.
00:18We're in the middle of August recess. Congress is gone. Their staff is gone. All the lobbyists that want to make money off them are gone.
00:25This place is as quiet right now as it will be all year.
00:30And yet today is the day that Trump decided to take over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
00:36And you have to wonder why, because he can only do it for 30 days without congressional approval.
00:41And for at least 21 of those days, probably maybe up to 24 of those days, D.C. is going to be empty.
00:47Youth crime has taken place, whether it be in, you know, assaults, petty crime, petty thefts, what else, carjackings, car break-ins, whatever the case may be.
01:01But I think that this should have been more of an effort for the federal law enforcement arms and the administration to work more closely alongside D.C. government to come up with a solution that would resolve crime.
01:19One change that the D.C. Police Department should make, what would it be?
01:22I just think they should just be more stricter on the crimes.
01:30I think they should be more stricter on the crimes, how they commit, whoever commit the crime, whether it's you, adult.
01:37But I think they need to be more stricter because they're coming out, repeating, coming out, repeating, going back, doing the same thing.
01:44Do you think that's a choice on their part to not enforce it?
01:48Or do you think that they need more help?
01:50I think they need more resources. I do.
01:53One of the big things was the number of carjackings.
01:56And that kind of hit a peak after Congressman Cuellar was carjacked in a lovely neighborhood just like this one.
02:03So when you heard about those carjackings and the fact that they were having members of Congress in a lovely neighborhood,
02:09like exactly where we're standing right now, what did you think about that?
02:13I mean, the congressional members are also American citizens.
02:16I don't know that it was targeted directly because it was his car specifically or anyone's car specifically.
02:22I just think that there are bigger issues to solve those crimes than what they're doing by just saying,
02:29we'll bring in the military or bring in National Guard for it.
02:32Like you wouldn't arrest people with mental illnesses and put them in jail.
02:40You would, I mean, studies show that you should rehabilitate them differently, right?
02:43Like I just feel like there are so many other ways to deal with the crime here.
02:47What do you make of the D.C. police union coming out and saying they support this because D.C. cops are stretched way too thin?
02:54So there is a issue with D.C. cops being stretched too thin.
02:57That is true.
02:58I don't think people want to be police because they, the benefits are not there.
03:02The pay is not there.
03:03It's very challenging work to deal with things when you don't have program funding for, you know,
03:08for example, for the homeless or for the youth to help rehabilitate them.
03:13So one of the big things you hear people talk about in D.C. is youth crime.
03:18And the city has tried to address this with curfews.
03:20So right now through August 31st, youths cannot gather in large groups from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m.
03:29And if they do, they risk arrest.
03:32Well, here in Navy Yard, they actually expanded that and they made it from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
03:37And when you interview people here in this neighborhood and they say, oh, I might feel safe here.
03:43I might feel like there needs to be a greater police presence.
03:46No matter which side of the line they fall on on that, they always mention the youth crime.
03:52Do you think that's working?
03:53Yes, yes, because I have seen a decrease in the juvenile here.
04:01What were the juveniles doing that you thought needed to be addressed?
04:05Oh, well, they were always in a crowd, in a group.
04:09You never knew which way they were going, what their mindset, what they were going to do.
04:14They made you feel uncomfortable.
04:17Did you ever see them commit a crime aside from making you feel uncomfortable?
04:20No, I never saw anybody do that, no.
04:23No, I never saw them.
04:25They were just in a group.
04:26What would be your top things that Mayor Bowser and the city council should address to make this city better?
04:31The education system and dealing with the youth.
04:35Like, the youth putting them on curfew does not solve the problems.
04:38Like, truthfully, I really think that they just need to create programs for the youth to do.
04:41They're bored.
04:42They don't have fully developed brains.
04:45Their parents are probably working two or three jobs.
04:47They've been, like I said, pushed out, right?
04:50So they don't have those social programs.
04:53And I think if the city provided better social programs for them and better education for them,
04:58probably think that would be where we could focus so we wouldn't have to end up in the situation where we're in right now.
05:03How long have you lived in D.C.?
05:06Oh, my God.
05:07Over 20 years.
05:09How many?
05:09Over 20.
05:10Over 20?
05:11Yeah.
05:11And is this now, compared to the last 20, how would you say you feel about the current state of the city?
05:16Oh, now, you know, I'm afraid to walk the street at night because you never know what's going to happen 20 years ago.
05:25Safe.
05:26I've never experienced anything like this.
05:28Compared to where you've seen D.C. throughout your life, where would you say it is now?
05:33Better?
05:33Worse?
05:33The same?
05:34Oh, yeah.
05:35It's absolutely much safer.
05:36I was around when D.C. was in the midst of the crack epidemic, as a lot of majority black cities were at the time in the 80s and 90s.
05:44But I definitely feel like, you know, violent crime compared to that time is much less of an issue.
05:56Now, I know probably what's concerned is that a lot of that same crime that was happening in poorer neighborhoods is happening in wealthier neighborhoods.
06:06And now, but even with that, I still feel safe walking the streets of D.C., hanging out at night or whatnot.
06:15You know, I don't feel unsafe in D.C.
06:17How long have you lived in D.C. for?
06:19Four years.
06:19Four years.
06:20And over the course of that four years, obviously, crime has gotten better because when you moved here, it would have been, what, 2021?
06:27And then they had a big surge during COVID, kind of peaked in 2023, and it's been on the downturn ever since.
06:32Do you feel safer now than when you first moved here?
06:36Well, I'm from Raleigh, and I used to come up here all the time for, like, 20 years by myself.
06:41I've never not felt safe in D.C.
06:44I'm sorry.
06:45I have never not felt safe.
06:46Like, I also don't put myself in situations to go in, like, gang-related neighborhoods, but I don't think that's, like, super specific to D.C., right?
06:55Like, big cities have issues.
06:57Definitely want to deal with those issues.
06:59But, like, maybe if we worked on our education program and other areas, then we wouldn't have those issues as much.
07:05So, but I don't feel, I don't feel unsafe.
07:07I don't feel unsafe.
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