DC
Washington DC has more than twenty-two different law enforcement agencies with direct jurisdiction. Just check out one famous spot in Washington, Dupont Circle. It’s a “trendy” area on Massachusetts Avenue, where downtown meets Georgetown and Embassy Row. The DC Metro Police has jurisdiction over the roads: Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire Avenues (and P Street). But the actual circle, the monument to Admiral Dupont, is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.
More than seventy embassies and international organizations are festooned along Massachusetts Avenue and the side streets. They are the “sovereign territory” of the nation that occupies the grounds, a great place for a walk and a game of “name that flag”. The US Secret Service Uniformed Division is involved in policing those areas, as well as the DC Metro Police. A simple thing like parking (definitely not so simple in DC) can become an international incident. Diplomatic license plates confer “diplomatic immunity”. They park where they want.
Underneath Dupont Circle is the DC Metro, the subway system. One of its oldest stations is located there. (Back when I lived in DC in the 1970’s, it was “the end of the line”, where I would catch the Metro for Capitol Hill). The subway has its own police force, the Metro Transit Police Department.
The point: policing in Washington, DC is always complicated.
Federal District
Washington is a Federal District, bordered by Maryland and Virginia. It’s a “tight fit”, the view from the Lincoln Memorial (in DC) across the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery (in Virginia) spans the state border. The White House is in DC, the Pentagon in Virginia. And the “near suburbs” of Washington; Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and College Park, are all in Maryland.
Washington DC is a US city with a population of over 700,000, 22nd largest in the country. It’s boundaries are absolutely landlocked, because the District of Columbia was defined by the Constitution of the United States as the Federal Capital for the Nation. Until 1973 it was run by a commissioner appointed by the US Congress, and the laws, regulations, taxes and services were directly controlled by Congress.
Washington is 43% African-American, 39% White (including 3% Hispanic), 8% of multiple races, and 11% other races. It is a “minority-majority” city. The citizens of Washington didn’t even get the right to vote for President of the United States until 1961 (23rd Amendment). And it wasn’t until 1973 that Congress passed the District Home Rule Law, allowing for the direct election of a city council and mayor.
But, even then, Congress maintained a veto over the local government actions. Over 37% of the municipal budget comes from the Federal Government. Part of Home Rule includes the emergency “right” of the President of the United States to “intervene” and take control of law enforcement in the District. And, unlike the “regular states”, the National Guard of Washington, DC is under command of the President. As Governor Wes Moore of Maryland made clear last week, state Governors command their own state’s National Guard.
Inside the Law
All of that means that the Trump Administration was acting “within the law” when they took control of the Metro Police and called out the National Guard. The only legally questionable area was the existence of an “emergency”, but, that will be a matter for Federal Courts to determine.
Folks in the District are reasonably concerned. Sure, actions that reduce crime are generally a “good thing”. And perhaps all of the Federal police now concentrated in the “touristy” parts of the city might allow the Metro Police to concentrate on higher crime areas. But the Federal “takeover” is another step taking away the local control of 700,000 Washingtonians.
The answer for the residents of Washington is to become a state. That would give them autonomy over their own governance, as well as actual votes in the House and Senate. (Currently, they have a non-voting delegate in the House, and no representation in the Senate at all). DC statehood has been a “local issue” for decades.
But it is also a national political issue mired in partisan power. DC statehood would likely mean another Democratic Congressman and two more Democratic Senators. And how the statehood process would work is just one more complexity in the Federal versus local governing process. Who would police Dupont Circle then?
Outside the Law
When the Administration threatens to do more, and send in the National Guard or Federalize the police in New York, Chicago, Baltimore or other American cities (except, of course, cities that are in Republican states), there’s a big difference. The Governors of those states might be able to intervene. (Governor Hochul of New York sent the National Guard into the New York City subway). The Federal government doesn’t have that authority.
The ”legalities” haven’t stopped Trump from taking actions. His “better to ask forgiveness than permission” approach is filling the Federal Courts with cases. All of which take longer to adjudicate then the actions themselves (like Federalizing the California National Guard). But it clearly is a part of the plan. “Normalize” Americans to the sight of armed military in the streets of our cities.
Which, of course, leads to the question: why does the President of the United States want Americans to think of troops in the street as normal? The answer to that question is the real threat to American democracy.
