DC resident claims city is 'safe' in WaPo article, but remains anonymous 'over concerns of personal safety'

As President Donald Trump has taken federal control of the police in Washington, DC, as well as deployed the National Guard, some have claimed that the nation's capital is fine and the move is not necessary. One resident who spoke to the Washington Post, however, wished to remain "anonymous" for their comment, calling it a "safe city." This is despite having "concerns of personal safety" as their reason for not being identified in the article.

The Washington Post report titled, "Trump says crime in DC is out of control. Here's what the data shows," displays a graph of violent crime rate, but only reaching back to the year 2019, right before the Covid-19 pandemic, and paints a picture that the nation's capital does not have a large crime issue.

In taking comments from residents in DC, one resident told the outlet, "'This is a safe city, but overhearing and witnessing gang threats and then watching the camera footage of the thuggery is disturbing,' said one resident," the WaPo report stated. The article then ironically added that the Washington, DC resident was "speaking on the condition of anonymity over concerns of personal safety."

The segment from the report was highlighted by the Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Reporter, Matthew Foldi, who wrote, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Washington Post is letting DC liberals anonymously rant about how supposedly safe DC is, while letting them speak 'on the condition of anonymity over concerns of personal safety.' Yes, this is real."

Although there has been a slight decline in violent crimes reported in DC, the White House pointed to the capital city's 2024 murder rate from FBI statistics of 27.54 per 100,000, which is higher than reported murder rates in Bogota and Mexico City.

Some have also pointed out in response to the report that the DC police commander was placed on leave in July after the police union accused Commander Michael Pulliam of falsifying crime data.

The Conservative Partnership Institute's Rachel Bovard posted about the crime in the nation's capital, "Anyone who has lived in DC for more than 10 years and is honest knows this city has gone from nice, clean, and mostly safe to gross, dirty, and scary in the last five years. The state of Union Station alone is a testament to this."