The crime rate in the nation’s capital has been falling in spite of President Trump’s actions in his second term, said Ankit Jain, a shadow senator for the District of Columbia, soon after the president announced a temporary takeover of policing in the city.
“We have a historic judicial vacancy crisis in D.C.,” said Mr. Jain, who serves as one of the District’s elected advocates before the U.S. Senate. He noted that the city is down two judges out of nine on its high court, the D.C. court of appeals. “What happens when you don’t have enough judges? Trials get delayed, crime goes up,” he said. “Why has the president not made this a priority of nominating judges?”
Mr. Jain said the vacancy crisis in the U.S. attorney’s office, which prosecutes all adult crimes, also posed a problem for the city. Mr. Trump recently installed an ally, the former Fox News host Jeannine Pirro, as the U.S. attorney for Washington after he was forced his pull his first choice for the job.
“Pirro’s predecessor fired attorneys who prosecuted violent insurrectionists from Jan. 6,” Mr. Jain said, referring to another Trump appointee, Ed Martin. “Now we’re facing a vacancy crisis in her office, too.”
Mr. Jain said Mr. Trump’s his efforts to exert federal authority over the nation’s capital did not appear to offer any long term solutions to crime. “And I’m incredibly concerned about what he is going to use the police force to do to the people of D.C.,” he added.
The takeover of the city police department was expected to last 30 days. That means that what Mr. Trump announced on Monday was essentially a show of force that will expire on Sept. 10.
Mr. Jain is one of two shadow senators from the District of Columbia who serve as its elected advocates before the body. They hold no voting power but lobby the Senate in favor of D.C. statehood, to prevent congressional interference in its affairs, and pass laws that protect D.C.’s interests.
Mr. Jain said there was only one real way for Washington to protect itself.
“We need D.C. statehood to stop this problem,” he said.
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times. She writes features and profiles, with a recent focus on House Republican leadership.
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