As a former police officer, I’ve seen firsthand how both crime and criminals have changed since my days on the beat. Today, drugs, untreated mental illness, and a wholesale devaluing of human life drive the violence we see in our cities. But these social pathologies are symptoms of something deeper.

President Trump has once again drawn the ire of the Left and the legacy media for exercising his statutory authority to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department in response to Washington, D.C.‘s dangerously high crime rate. In the nation’s capital, you are 52 times more likely to be the victim of a crime than you are to win the D.C. Pick 3 lottery’s $500 top prize.

Critics argue that because crime has declined since 2023, this action was unnecessary. What they fail to mention is that 2023 marked a decade-high crime rate. Even after the recent drop, D.C. residents still face a one in 19 probability of being a crime victim each year. That’s 5.3% — double the 2.5% risk in Chicago. By any objective measure, our nation’s capital remains one of the riskiest cities in America.

President Trump’s move was neither arbitrary nor unnecessary. But here’s the reality: taking control of a police department that city leaders have pressured to coddle criminals rather than enforce the law may address the symptoms — but it won’t cure the underlying disease.

That deeper problem is rooted in the breakdown of the family. D.C. not only has one of the highest crime rates in the nation — it also has one of the highest percentages of children under 18 living in single-parent homes, most without a father. Roughly 53% of children in D.C. grow up in single-parent households — double the national average.

Federal studies and decades of social science research confirm what common sense tells us: father absence is linked to lower self-esteem, higher anxiety, identity struggles, and greater aggression — including criminal behavior. And beyond the social science, there are spiritual consequences. Many who grow up without a father struggle to relate to the very concept of God as a loving, heavenly Father. That loss of connection has ripple effects on how we treat one another. As Jesus said, the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love your neighbor — and the two are inseparable.

Yes, D.C. needs police who enforce the law and prosecutors who prosecute criminals. But the city named for our Founding Father needs fathers — fathers in the home, fathers in schools, fathers invested in the lives of children. I’m not calling for another federal program. I’m calling for a national awakening to the spiritual and social roots of our crime problem. Because until we restore fathers to their rightful place in the family, no amount of policing will bring lasting peace to our streets.

Republished from The Washington Stand.