Basil Smikle Jr.: ‘Crime Is Down’ in D.C., Show of Force Is ‘Anticipatory Obedience’

EXCERPT:

SMIKLE JR.: “We talked about that a bit in New York when there were questions about crime in the subways, and you started to see National Guard members in our subway stations. There are a lot of folks that felt comfortable about that, but others that said, 'Why are we doing this?' Right? Because why should we have this kind of show of force? But if you take a city like Washington, D.C., that is smaller, and you start having folks with shotguns or automatic rifles in the — in their streets, what is the point of that if not to show force at a point where crime is down and you actually don’t need to show force in that way? So there’s a theater that I think he’s trying to create to, again, deflect attention, to scare people. Right? Because we see that with ICE as well and what he does with ICE, to scare people and to engage in what a friend of mine called anticipatory obedience. In anticipation of me showing force or inserting my will, you’re going to behave."