SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
President Trump began to deploy National Guard troops, along with hundreds of federal agents, around Washington, D.C., this week. He says they are in the capital to crack down on what he frames as rampant violent crime. The federal government has also taken over the D.C. Metropolitan Police for now. What do people here in Washington make of all of this? NPR's Frank Langfitt walked around town today to find out, and he's back with us in the studio. Hey, Frank.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: So what did you hear?
LANGFITT: So it all depends on where you go, like any city. I began along U Street. And this is a gentrifying neighborhood, very diverse, part of an area with - that also has a high crime rate according to D.C. police, about 10 violent crimes per thousand residents. But people I was talking to there, they said crime didn't seem that bad to them. This is Ava Shen. She's a 27-year-old business consultant.
AVA SHEN: I've lived in cities my whole life, and I don't think D.C. is more dangerous than other cities that I've lived in. Like, I think this summer actually has been - like, in my personal experience, has been calmer than other summers.
LANGFITT: Now, Shen - she also said there had been shootings in the area in recent years. But when she walks home at night - she comes home maybe 2 or 3 in the morning - no problem at all.
I should also add that the D.C. police say that violent crime across the city has dropped in the last couple of years, and crime is much - you know, really down compared to years much earlier.
DETROW: What'd she make, then, of the president's rationale for deploying soldiers?
LANGFITT: Scott, she says it's a power play. Here's how she put it.
SHEN: Based on other things that he has done, it's just a string of decisions that will ultimately expand presidential power at the expense of other branches of government. I just don't think deploying the National Guard is the solution to whatever they're claiming.
DETROW: So Frank, you started in a busy gentrifying neighborhood. Where did you go next?
LANGFITT: So I get on the Metro, and I went across the Anacostia River to Congress Heights. This is among the poorest areas of the city. Vast majority of the population is Black. And also the D.C. police say this is part of an area with among the highest crime - violent crime rates in the city. But unlike U Street, people in Congress Heights said crime is a really big problem there - shootings, robbery, burglaries. In fact, some say crime is worse than the statistics show because many say - have given up reporting to police because they feel a lot of crimes go unpunished.
DETROW: So what is that neighborhood's sense, then - or at least the people you talked to - about the president's move?
LANGFITT: Well, you know, there was a general sense that any greater armed presence would be a good thing. I was talking to a woman named Alicia Cooper. She works in property management in that area. And she also kind of likes the idea of federal oversight of police.
ALICIA COOPER: The positive is a sense of security. Residents, at the end of the day - they can feel secure that they know that there is a higher level of chain of command that is monitoring, you know, what's going on.
LANGFITT: But others thought that, you know, sending soldiers was really the wrong approach to what they see as a legitimate problem. There was one guy I talked to - he's a former reserve police officer. He said he thought Trump was trying to punish the leaders of this Black-led Democratic city and that this was really a show of political and military force. And people that I talked to said that if the president really wants to crack down on crime, he should use federal money to - you know, to put more police on the street. Of course, they're trained to do this sort of work.
DETROW: One more big, contextual question. The president is deploying the FBI, the DEA, all of these federal agencies. We've seen a lot of pictures of them on the National Mall, places like that. Did you see any of these agents in these neighborhoods?
LANGFITT: Not a one. And in Congress Heights, they didn't expect to see any of those folks because a lot of them down there in that neighborhood, they feel this is really just for - all for show.
DETROW: That is NPR's Frank Langfitt. Thanks. Thanks a lot, Frank.
LANGFITT: Good to talk, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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