Having served as the chief of police for three suburban law enforcement agencies just outside of Washington, D.C., I have watched with concern—though not surprise—as crime in the nation’s capital has skyrocketed over the past year, even as the number of police officers serving with the city’s Metropolitan Police Department has dropped to a half-century low.
Amid that alarming backdrop, it’s no wonder that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council have changed their tune since the start of the “defund and defame the police” movement in 2020—just like so many other politicians in cities nationwide.
The knee-jerk reaction in the District of Columbia and in most other major cities after George Floyd’s death in May 2020 was to cut police funding, demonize the officers serving and enact soft-on-crime policies. In its aftermath, crime has soared to levels not…
