What we find out about crime in DC, briefly defined

[ad_1] This story appeared in The Logoff , a each day e-newsletter that helps you keep knowledgeable concerning the Trump administration with out letting political information take over your life. Subscribe here .

Welcome to The Logoff: As President Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington, DC, continues, his Justice Division is launching an investigation into whether or not DC police falsified crime information.

What's Trump alleging? In a Monday night Reality Social put up, Trump wrote that “D.C. gave Faux Crime numbers in an effort to create a false phantasm of security,” referring to a decline in violent crime that runs counter to his makes an attempt to color town as “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.”

What do DC crime numbers really say? Latest information suggests violent crime in DC is considerably down after a spike in 2023. Final yr, violent crime reached its lowest level in additional than 30 years, and DC officers say it has continued to fall this yr.

Are there really points with DC crime statistics? Trump is just not the primary one to allege points with crime information — however there’s comparatively little proof of a systemic drawback. In Could, the city placed a police commander on leave to research whether or not he was manipulating crime information, and the pinnacle of DC’s police union has solid doubt on official numbers.

Each of these needs to be taken with a grain of salt — DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has since acknowledged that “we don’t imagine [the investigation] implicates many instances,” and the decline in violent crime in DC tracks with a nationwide pattern. Violent crime within the US has fallen dramatically since a spike through the Covid-19 pandemic, and 2025 is on observe to have the lowest murder rate since the FBI began keeping reliable records in 1960 .

Is Trump’s DC takeover impacting crime? Probably not — regardless of Trump’s claims of false information and widespread lawlessness, the Nationwide Guard troops and federal regulation enforcement he has deployed to DC are largely staying near tourist and nightlife areas of the city , and plenty of of their arrests have been immigration-related, slightly than addressing violent crime.

And with that, it’s time to log out…

This piece from my colleague Kyndall Cunningham about matcha, and what’s driving its present reputation, is a good learn that will get at a much bigger query — how can we get influenced right into a pattern within the first place, and the way do these traits work together with our precise tastes? Perhaps, she concludes, “being a matcha particular person in 2025 is nearly desirous to be an individual.” You may learn her full story here — have an important night, and we’ll see you again right here tomorrow!