U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) is supporting President Donald Trump’s attempts to combat crime in Washington D.C.
Trump announced earlier this month that he is placing the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police under federal control and is going to be sending 800 National Guard troops to the nation’s capital.
According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, there have been 630 people arrested in total, and 86 illegal guns have been confiscated. There have also been no recorded homicides in the city for the past week.
Palmer discussed the issue Thursday on FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show.”
“Well, it gotten to the point where I didn’t I really was concerned about my staff safety, particularly those that lived around the Navy Yard, their car jackings or muggings shootings,” Palmer explained. “I mean, it got a point where there where a couple of shootings outside the Washington Nationals baseball stadium while there was a game going on, so it had really gotten out of hand. And I think when the story fully evolves about how the Metro Police Department had manipulated the crime numbers, they’re going to find out that Washington, DC is one of the most dangerous cities in the country.”
The congressman said he appreciates what Trump is doing, but also believes it will take some permanent changes in policing to really make a difference.
“It’s going to take more than just bringing in the National Guard,” Palmer argued. “They’re going to have to go back to a no broken windows policy. If you break a window, you’re going to jail. You got it. They’re going to be consequences for the little crimes….and we’re going to have to force the Washington Metro Police Department and city council to really crack down on crime. And I don’t know if your listeners are aware of this, the mayor actually tried to do that, and the city council vetoed her efforts.”
Palmer also said that the crime problem is D.C. is just another example of the failures of Democratic leadership in many of the nation’s big cities.
“I think it’s going to have to extend outside the Capitol area and needs to go across the river into Anacostia and places like that,” he said. “I mean, this is a city that has legalized dope. You can’t walk anywhere without smelling dope. I mean, they had 30 something homeless encampments where they would harass people. You know, they’re on the streets, harassing people. So Washington DC was becoming a microcosm of what the country would look like under complete democratic control. That’s my concern. I know people think that’s exaggeration, but come on up some of these places are Chicago and San Francisco and Los Angeles and just walks on the streets and see what you think after you’ve been there.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
