What DC was like first night of federal takeover: SAN reporter hits the streets

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00:00You know, I don't feel unsafe in D.C.

00:02D.C. is a ghost town.

00:04We're in the middle of August recess.

00:06Congress is gone. Their staff is gone.

00:08All the lobbyists that want to make money off them are gone.

00:12This place is as quiet right now as it will be all year.

00:17And yet today is the day that Trump decided to take over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

00:22And you have to wonder why, because he can only do it for 30 days without congressional approval.

00:27And for at least 21 of those days, probably maybe up to 24 of those days, D.C. is going to be empty.

00:34I just think that there are bigger issues to solve those crimes than what they're doing by just saying,

00:38we'll bring in the military or bring in National Guard for it.

00:40I'm afraid to walk the street at night because you never know what's going to happen 20 years ago.

00:47Safe. I've never experienced anything like this.

00:50Oh, yeah, it's absolutely much safer.

00:52I was around when D.C. was in the midst of the crack epidemic as a lot of majority black cities.

00:58There is a issue with D.C. cops being stretched too thin.

01:01That is true.

01:02I don't think people want to be policed because the benefits are not there.

01:06The pay is not there. It's very challenging work.

01:08So one of the big things you hear people talk about in D.C. is youth crime.

01:13And the city has tried to address this with curfew.

01:15So right now, through August 31st, youths cannot gather in large groups from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m.

01:24And if they do, they risk arrest.

01:26What were the juveniles doing that you thought needed to be addressed?

01:31Oh, well, they were always in a crowd, in a group.

01:35You never knew which way they were going, what their mindset, what they were going to do.

01:40They made you feel uncomfortable.

01:41The youth putting them on curfew does not solve the problems.

01:45Truthfully, I really think that they just need to create programs for the youth to do.

01:48They're bored.

01:49They don't have fully developed brains.