DC can be criminally interesting. In 1976, for the big Bicentennial celebration (I was in town, but avoided downtown like the plague!) it was reported that there was only ONE attempt at crime -- some idiot jumped a plain-clothes cop.

At other times, however....

DC is as safe as London or any other big city, and perhaps safer. There's the city cops, the National Park cops, the Capitol Cops, the White House cops (not the Secret Service), and I know I'm missing some. And the terrorist thing has made them even more omnipresent.

There are also the homeless.