First in Washington, D.C., and now in Memphis, President Donald Trump has surged federal law enforcement officers and National Guard to high-crime neighborhoods, and the results have been unequivocally successful: lower crime, safer streets, and a quiet but telling rise in law-abiding behavior.
When Trump first announced his law enforcement surge for the district, Democrats lost their minds, as though crime were a good thing. At large D.C. Council member Robert White called it an “occupation” and “the opening move in a national move toward authoritarianism.” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called Trump a “dictator” who was “pushing democracy to the brink.” There was a lot more nonsense where that came from.
Four weeks later, however, Mayor Muriel Bowser was thanking Trump. “We know that we have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced an extreme reduction in carjackings,” Bowser said. “We greatly appreciate the surge of officers.”
According to the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department data, compared to the previous year, violent crime fell by half during Trump’s surge — burglaries were down by 48%, and car thefts were down by 36%. Fare evasion became nonexistent at the Metro as National Guard troops were visibly present at every gate.
But the biggest drops in crime, according to one analysis, happened in what had been the most crime-ridden neighborhoods. Trump’s surge of law enforcement did not hang out in Georgetown and Adams Morgan, but in Anacostia, Brentwood, and the U Street corridor. More than 1,000 arrests were made, 115 firearms were seized, and 50 homeless encampments were cleared.
The leadership of Memphis, a blue city in a deep red state, was far more welcoming to Trump’s law enforcement surge than the district. Republican Gov. Bill Lee worked with Trump to select Memphis as a targeted enforcement city, and the city’s mayor, Democrat Paul Young, while nominally opposed to the surge, has worked closely with the federal government. “My goal is to make sure that anything that’s happening in our city, that I’m at the table negotiating in good faith on behalf of the residents of our city,” Young said. “That’s my job.”
More than 2,000 federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops have been in the city since Oct. 10, and the results have been just as dramatic as those in Washington, D.C. More than 2,100 people have been arrested. Robberies and vehicle thefts are both down 70%, aggravated assaults are down 50%, and murders are down 43%. The DMV reports that vehicle registrations are up dramatically as residents who used to drive illegally rush to get their tags to avoid being pulled over.
“It’s good they’re here,” 61-year-old bartender Ann Morris told reporters. “Traffic is a lot lighter, and hopefully things will get better.” Morris added that she hopes the law enforcement presence will serve as a “wake-up call” to young men in the city.
The costs of law enforcement surges make them unsustainable as a permanent solution. But the results demonstrate that if anything, we have too few, not too many, law officers in most of our communities.
Trump’s surges in the district and Memphis prove that when law enforcement is visible, empowered, and present in the neighborhoods, crime falls and communities stabilize.
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Democrats fearmonger about “authoritarianism,” but residents living with daily violence saw something different — safer streets, open businesses, and a renewed sense of order.
These surges can’t last forever, but their success exposes a real problem, which is that too many cities simply lack the officers needed to keep the peace. If leaders truly care about public safety, they should stop attacking law enforcement and start investing in it.