[RAY BOGAN]
President Trump federalized the DC police department and deployed the national guard one week ago. Now guardsmen, federal agents and officers are stationed around the district. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced federal agents and MPD officers have made nearly 400 arrests since the operation began and seized dozens of firearms.
But does DC feel any safer? We asked locals.
Have you noticed a difference in safety in the city over the last week?
[TERRENCE KING]
People like me who work a regular nine to five, I can’t even come outside without being scared. I’m be pressed out yesterday, on my way home, look at this shit. I got grabbed, threw against my wall for no fucking reason. This is handcuffs. By who random fucking police officer that said he can grab me because he had probable cause? It made no sense to me. I did 10 hours that fucking day. They cleared me within 10 minutes.
[RAY BOGAN]
How do you think that these officers, or just the city in general, could address safety in DC.
[TERRENCE KING]
Okay, again, I’m not trying to sound like bias or anything, but just like, when you have officers that are from the community, or even just share, like, an empathic, like a relationship with people in the community, it’ll help them. It’ll help them socialize with people in the community. Better approach them, better like, like I said, they just approached me. They just grabbed me. They didn’t ask me that one question. Bro. They fucking grabbed me. I swear to God, they grabbed me and then started asking me questions. If you just talk to people, you know, with a clear mind, clear head, then maybe they’ll feel safer about talking to the police.
[RAY BOGAN]
So you think they should be have a better plan?
[TERRENCE KING]
Yes, bruh, a better plan of action. Instead of intimidating people on the fucking streets like that’s easy to do, and say, I can do that shit. You strong as shit, you can put on a suit and intimidate fucking people, it’s easy. They not doing no real police work right here, and it’s sad, bro.
[RAY BOGAN]
While Terrence King said he opposes the federal agents. We spoke with Aisha, another lifelong DC resident, who said a family member’s three-year-old daughter was killed just last month and she supports the federalization.
[RAY BOGAN]
what do you want these national guardsmen to accomplish before they leave, and how much time do you think they should be allowed to stay?
[AISHA]
Well, hopefully the accomplishments will subside. The violence. It’s the violence, the violence within these last I say, since the Fourth of July up to now, has been crazy. It’s shaking some people up, because some stuff that people was doing, they scared, you know, just hopefully the crime will go away. That’s all I want. I want the shooting to stop these innocent children. These innocent children are dying for nothing, and it’s sad. I want these innocent children to stop dying. I want them to have a chance. That’s our future, that’s our legacy.// 2:53 Hopefully once they go they don’t have to extend it. I heard they have some more people coming. It has making me a little nervous. But the crime,
[RAY BOGAN]
how does that make you nervous? The possibility of an extension?
[AISHA]
I just, you know, because it made me nervous, because I heard it was an incident down Gallery Place where they had jumped on the lady and beat her up. You know, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that was enough that just made me nervous.
[RAY BOGAN]
So you support them being here, but at the same time, have a little bit of nervousness that they could potentially overstep.
[AISHA]
Yes,
[RAY BOGAN]
So the DC National Guardsmen here at Union Station are very relaxed. People are walking up to them and asking for pictures. They’re asking for directions. The Guardsmen are even handing out water to people who ask. We’re at one of the main transport hubs. We’re across the street from the Capitol building, and there is no sign of tension.
[Cathal Donohoe]
I asked for a picture because they help and they protect us.
[RAY BOGAN]
Do you think it’s good that they’re here because President Trump asked them to be here? Or do you just support them in general?
[Cathal Donohoe]
I support our troops in general. I’d say I love the people who help and protect
[RAY BOGAN]
Does the fact that President Trump ordered them to be here change your mind at all?
[Cathal Donohoe]
No. I mean, under any president, I love and support our troops.
[RAY BOGAN]
let me ask you, when you see these national guardsmen here? Do you see this as political in any way,
[Aisha]
to a certain extent?
[RAY BOGAN]
Put it this way, when you look at them, do you see National Guardsmen, or do you see Donald Trump?
Aisha I see National Guardsmen. I don’t see Donald Trump. Personally, that’s how I feel. I just feel like they’re here. They had no choice. They had to come.
[RAY BOGAN]
We’re in Chinatown, and this is what we’ve seen. FBI agents and Homeland Security Investigations agents are standing and looking over the shoulders of Metro Police Department officers as they write people tickets for fair hopping buses.
[ED]
It just kind of feels really weird. If we saw these kind of news headlines in another country, we would be panicking, right? We’d be if China was doing stuff like this, where the capital is being taken over by Federal officers. Can you imagine the headlines we’d see instead? It’s justified over a crime rate that doesn’t exist. It’s just weird.
[RAY BOGAN]
Let me just push back on that for just one second, though, because if you, if you or I hopped the turnstile, as they would say, on the subway, and got on without a ticket, I would fully expect to be written a ticket or a citation for that. So what’s wrong with what they’re doing right now?
[Ed]
I think the wrong part is we already have resources like that in place. We already have Metro cops who wait in certain areas. It’s it’s weird that we’re having federal agents being brought in here have this kind of presence all for those kind of minor things. I think if you want to have a conversation about more police in DC, I’m really up for that, right? I think we do kind of lack a little bit of policing here. Or I guess the police workforce isn’t large enough here, but to bring in HSI agents FBI to do these random kind of tasks is just, it’s strange.
