President Trump’s action this summer asserting federal control of the District of Columbia police force was a bold and necessary step toward confronting the rampant crime that has plagued our nation’s capital for years.

This decision resonates strongly, especially in light of the crime data in the District. The persistent narratives attempting to downplay the crime crisis in D.C. needed be challenged. Trump recognized this and took action.

At the conclusion of the first month in this extensive experiment, the data already revealed a striking narrative: The relentless tide of crime can be stemmed, wherever the will exists to do so. Living in crime and danger is a choice, not an inevitability.

Crime rates across all seven police districts of Washington have shown a significant downturn since the federal takeover. This change is not limited by economic strata — both affluent neighborhoods and those less fortunate have benefited from this decline.

Homicides, a tragic barometer of societal health, plummeted by more than 60 percent in the first month. Property crimes, too, saw notable reductions: burglary and theft from vehicles decreased by more than 40 percent, and motor vehicle thefts fell by approximately 35 percent. Incidents of robbery declined by 19 percent.

The crucial question is whether the District's leaders will summon the discipline to sustain this progress — or simply relapse into the entrenched patterns of dysfunction that have long defined the city's governance.

For years, D.C. has wrestled with a heinous crime rate. In 2023, the city recorded 274 murders, three times as many as it had in 2012.

© The Hill