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\u2019s a \u201ctrendy\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than seventy embassies and international organizations are festooned along Massachusetts Avenue and the side streets.\u00a0\u00a0They are the \u201csovereign territory\u201d of the nation that occupies the grounds, a great place for a walk and a game of \u201cname that flag\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The US Secret Service Uniformed Division is involved in policing those areas, as well as the DC Metro Police.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A simple thing like parking (definitely not so simple in DC) can become an international incident.\u00a0\u00a0Diplomatic license plates confer \u201cdiplomatic immunity\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0They park where they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Underneath Dupont Circle is the DC Metro, the subway system.\u00a0\u00a0One of its oldest stations is located there.\u00a0\u00a0(Back when I lived in DC in the 1970\u2019s, it was \u201cthe end of the line\u201d, where I would catch the Metro for Capitol Hill).\u00a0\u00a0The subway has its own police force, the Metro Transit Police Department.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point: policing in Washington, DC is always complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington is a Federal District, bordered by Maryland and Virginia.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a \u201ctight fit\u201d, the view from the Lincoln Memorial (in DC) across the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery (in Virginia) spans the state border.\u00a0\u00a0The White House is in DC, the Pentagon in Virginia.\u00a0\u00a0And the \u201cnear suburbs\u201d of Washington; Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and College Park, are all in Maryland.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington DC is a US city with a population of over 700,000, 22nd<\/sup>\u00a0largest in the country.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Until 1973 it was run by a commissioner appointed by the US Congress, and the laws, regulations, taxes and services were directly controlled by Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Washington is 43% African-American, 39% White (including 3% Hispanic), 8% of multiple races, and 11% other races.\u00a0\u00a0It is a \u201cminority-majority\u201d city.\u00a0\u00a0The citizens of Washington didn\u2019t even get the right to vote for President of the United States until 1961 (23rd<\/sup>\u00a0Amendment).\u00a0\u00a0And it wasn\u2019t until 1973 that Congress passed the District Home Rule Law, allowing for the direct election of a city council and mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, even then, Congress maintained a veto over the local government actions.\u00a0\u00a0Over 37% of the municipal budget comes from the Federal Government.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Part of Home Rule includes the emergency \u201cright\u201d of the President of the United States to \u201cintervene\u201d and take control of law enforcement in the District.\u00a0\u00a0And, unlike the \u201cregular states\u201d, the National Guard of Washington, DC is under command of the President.\u00a0\u00a0As Governor Wes Moore of Maryland made clear last week,\u00a0\u00a0state Governors command their own state\u2019s National Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of that means that the Trump Administration was acting \u201cwithin the law\u201d when they took control of the Metro Police and called out the National Guard.\u00a0\u00a0The only\u00a0\u00a0legally questionable area was the existence of an \u201cemergency\u201d, but, that will be a matter for Federal Courts to determine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Folks in the District are reasonably concerned.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, actions that reduce crime are generally a \u201cgood thing\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And perhaps all of the Federal police now concentrated in the \u201ctouristy\u201d parts of the city might allow the Metro Police to concentrate on higher crime areas.\u00a0\u00a0But the Federal \u201ctakeover\u201d is another step taking away the local control of 700,000 Washingtonians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer for the residents of Washington is to become a state.\u00a0\u00a0That 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).\u00a0\u00a0DC statehood has been a \u201clocal issue\u201d for decades.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it is also a national political issue mired in partisan power.\u00a0\u00a0DC 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.\u00a0\u00a0Who would police Dupont Circle then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s a big difference.\u00a0The 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\u2019t have that authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201dlegalities\u201d haven\u2019t stopped Trump from taking actions.\u00a0\u00a0His \u201cbetter to ask forgiveness than permission\u201d 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).\u00a0But it clearly is a part of the plan. \u201cNormalize\u201d Americans to the sight of armed military in the streets of our cities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which, of course, leads to the question:\u00a0\u00a0why does the President of the United States want Americans to think of troops in the street as normal?\u00a0\u00a0The answer to that question is the real threat to American democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside the Law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Outside the Law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n