– Mayor Muriel Bowser of D.C.: No need for federal takeover of police, crime rate has been falling.
– Mayor Karen Bass of L.A.: “Our crime rate is at 30-year low.”

This raises a few questions. If police do nothing about shoplifting, even outright looting, then people do not bother to report it. So the retail crime “falls.” But the number is deceptive. In fact it is Orwellian: “The crime rate is down because the crime rate is up.”

The same is true for other crimes, about which police and prosecutors do little. The only exception is homicide. It is impossible to ignore a dead body lying in the street. So when in doubt, look at the homicide figures. They are the hardest to falsify. As you see, the D.C. homicide rate has been rising steadily. This casts serious doubt on the “falling” rates of other crimes. It is saying, “I wouldn’t hesitate to kill you, but I wouldn’t steal your stuff. That would be too much for me to bear.” Don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Ask residents whether they feel safe at night, or even during the day. Ask them whether they feel safe in certain neighborhoods, or anywhere. View official crime figures the way you view other government announcements, with skepticism at best, and with open disbelief at worst. The only exception are homicide data, which are difficult to fabricate.

Do these people feel safe on the street, Mayor Bowser? Unlike you, they don’t travel with an armed security detail. They are just ordinary folks, the ones you purport to care about.

The young man was in D.C., your city. The woman was in Cincinnati. But they could have been in any large American city. We are no longer talking about quality of life. We are talking about the ability to live at all. If that is not a federal responsibility, what is?