A liquor store employee working in the nation’s capital said he has noticed some relief from the late-night violence he used to regularly witness, but fell short of attributing it to President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, others working in the nation’s capital expressed mixed feelings about the presence of the National Guard on the streets.
Following a high-profile incident earlier this month, during which a former DOGE-employee was severely beaten in an attempted carjacking, Trump directed the secretary of defense to mobilize the D.C. National Guard and federal law enforcement officers from a range of different agencies to help fight crime in the nation’s capital that Trump described as “out of control.”
“It was a little dicey at times,” said the general manager at a liquor store in the Navy Yard area named Cross. “I would see fights break out whenever I was just walking home. But now it’s a lot more quiet, and especially in the store, it’s a little bit more organized, people are a lot more friendly.”
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Declining foot traffic has been a trend noticed by other business owners who have spoken to Fox News Digital. But Cross said he couldn’t put his finger on what may be causing the streets to be a little “more quiet” in the wake of Trump’s crime crackdown.
“I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why,” Cross explained. “It could be people are more afraid of, you know, police involvement. They also might just be – like, especially a lot of it was youth, and now that the school year has kind of started, it might be as a result of that too.”
No matter what the catalyst is, Cross said he feels “a lot safer now, at least in the last few days” when walking home to his apartment after his shift ends late at night.
A different business owner from the Dupont Circle area named Mark echoed others who have said they have not seen a noticeably enhanced police presence, but said he has welcomed the idea and noticed some minor improvements.
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“I have noticed that they have been cleaning some of the graffiti off in some of the areas, like on the highways and that kind of stuff. I haven’t seen a lot of additional security here at Dupont Circle. So, I can’t say that that’s really made a change here. But I do think this area has been relatively safe,” Mark said.
Still, Mark added that he felt it would be a “great idea” to extend Trump’s temporary takeover, if it means better security.
“More security, I think it’s great. I think that will bring more people to the city to enjoy the restaurants and stores.”
But Mark’s sentiment has not been shared by every business owner in the district. A Chinatown-area business owner told Fox News Digital that decreased foot traffic following Trump’s federal takeover has led to his sales dropping roughly 30-40%.
“In a way, it’s good because it’s safer, but it kills my business. There’s nobody around and people are scared, they don’t want to be hassled, so they stay home,” said the Chinatown-area business owner named John. “It hurts my business big time.”
One D.C. employee complained that the federal police forces in the nation’s capital have not prioritized crime enough, but are rather focusing too much on detaining illegal immigrants.
“The federal police is great if they’re going to be here to help us fight crime. But, right now, all they’re doing is picking up immigrants that are trying to work hard and have a job to send home money to their family,” a nail salon employee named Nikki said.
Nikki relayed to Fox News Digital that customers regularly get their cars stolen while at the shop. “We have customers that come here late at night, and they like to be safe, you know?” she said.
President Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he is considering taking similar action to what has been done in D.C. in other major cities across the country, such as Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. He reportedly said last week that politicians from some of these Democrat-led metropolitan areas have been “begging” him to do the same in their cities. Several Democratic Party leaders, meanwhile, have accused Trump of manufacturing a crisis.
“If these Democrats spent half as much time addressing crime in their cities as they did going on cable news to complain about President Trump, their residents would be a lot safer,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital.
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