President Donald Trump argued this month that as a result of the federal enhancement of police work in Washington, D.C., the city went in four days from being the most dangerous in America to being the safest. He cited no evidence but relied apparently on his own observations and anecdotal references from friends. He opined that everyone wants him to keep their cities and towns safe.

Trump couldn't resist taking credit for an increase in the number of arrests. These included such crimes as vagrancy, running away from federal agents, and striking the bulletproof vest of a federal agent with a sandwich. It remains to be seen if arrests for quality-of-life crimes or non-crimes (vagrancy laws are unconstitutional, and running from federal agents is not a crime unless they have a lawful purpose to pursue you) can be translated into convictions and palpable safety.

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison understood that everyone wants to be safe, but they recognized that some prices are too high to pay for safety. Those prices include the loss of personal liberty, an expansion of already bloated presidential powers, the loss of local control of police and the violation of the constitutional principle of subsidiarity.

"Trump couldn't resist taking credit for an increase in the number of arrests. These included such crimes as vagrancy, running away from federal agents, and striking the bulletproof vest of a federal agent with a sandwich."

Here is the backstory.

During the colonial period of American history, there were no police. Towns and cities had jailers who mainly carried out orders from judges, which included jailing the guilty and occasionally executing them. Written laws were few. The common law followed the natural law. When enforcement was needed, a militia was assembled by a sheriff. The members of the militias were farmers and tradesmen.

The king's policies were enforced by his colonial governors and their troops and by British agents who could arrest anyone, as they all carried general warrants. General warrants were issued by a secret court in London, and they authorized the bearer to search wherever he wished and seize whatever and whomever he found.

One of Jefferson's bitterest complaints in the Declaration of Independence was the king's repeated violations of the doctrine of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity was crafted by the Romans, gained popularity after it was codified by St. Thomas Aquinas and generally adopted in the West.