D.C. Interns: Vote for a Safe Summer

This summer, I joined the flood of college undergraduates bound for a city flush with opportunities for the aspiring politico: Washington, D.C. The flight to the capital gave me ample time to develop my vision for the months to come: stepping onto the Metro every morning in my best business attire, touring the Smithsonian with new friends, and most importantly, running around the National Mall at sunrise.

On the first day of my fellowship, a staff member handed me a map with large red splotches over “no-go” zones. Of course, it is reasonable to expect large cities such as D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York to have at least some areas that tourists may want to avoid. But it is a completely different matter for the busiest streets and most iconic tourist attractions to become death traps for young professionals, students, and families.

After four years of the Democratic Party ignoring the crisis of safety in America’s cities, Democratic Party nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris’ past support for defunding the police has catapulted crime to the forefront of national debate. It is time for young voters to reckon with the truth. From shootings outside of Metro stations to confrontations in residential areas, no one—least of all a wide-eyed young professional—is protected from the crossfire.

With roughly twenty reported homicides each month in 2023, D.C. is far from safe. Violent crime—primarily in the form of carjacking and robbery—increased nearly forty percent in 2023, and high-crime areas lack the police force necessary to suppress illegal activity. Washington’s forensics lab lost an important accreditation for around three years, meaning convictions in cases involving drugs and guns were sparser. In 2022, roughly seventy percent of D.C. arrests did not result in charges. Acting Police Chief Pamela Smith announced a significant decrease in crime this July, but the data and residents’ fears do not support her claim. Crime is at a record high, and local law enforcement is at the lowest level since the 1960s.

Other cities are not excluded from this phenomenon. In early 2024, assailants punched women walking down New York City streets in broad daylight. The NYPD has dissuaded pressing charges in such cases because of the difficulty in tracing the offenders and “minimal” sustained injuries. However, this sets a dangerous precedent that the police need not enforce the law in the face of the “smaller” crimes that make walking the streets a fearful prospect.

The relationship between the people, police, and political leadership has been strained at best in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. The past few years have ushered in an age of brutality against the police, who, straddling public opinion, political agendas, and their oaths to protect and defend, are sometimes hampered from making arrests or protecting themselves. Protests in large cities have only made matters worse. Police officers’ hands are tied for the most part when it comes to showing resistance against instigators. Accusations of excessive force loom over an officer’s every move.

This summer, I watched a video of a protestor drag a policeman by his bullet-proof vest down a street I walked each day in D.C. This hardly inspired a feeling of safety.

This is not to say that police officers are infallible in their actions. Rather, it is to say that many cities’ political leaders have handicapped and endangered law enforcement officers by subjecting them to the ever-changing whims of the masses. New York, D.C., and other major cities have traded the rule of law and their populations’ safety for what they describe as “social justice” and “free expression.” According to their logic, allowing protestors to go unpunished for assaulting police officers is the pinnacle of American liberty.

I implore my generation—the twenty-somethings who cling to a new kind of urban martyrdom, tethering themselves to the chaotic pulse of city life in the name of a better future—open your eyes. Our cities have normalized violence to the point of petty gossip—“Did you hear about the hold-up at the convenience store?”—and supporting the police has become an extremist political statement. It is mind-boggling that wanting to arrive at work unscathed has become a divisive issue.

D.C. interns of 2025: Whether you find yourself on the right or the left, I am sure you hope to effect positive change during your stay. But your position on the political spectrum cannot shield you from arbitrary crimes and unsafe living conditions running rampant in our nation’s capital. You will be the leaders of tomorrow, but you must first vote for the leaders of today who will make safety nonnegotiable. If you believe that “justice” and “equality” can only be achieved outside of the rule of law, then the candidates you endorse are the very ones whose policies may threaten your life one day.

Choose wisely. Cast your ballot with a keen eye to next summer. After all, no one deserves to be killed on their way to work.