GEOFF BENNETT: Residents of Washington, D.C., and the surrounding region are still adapting to life under federal control after the president seized authority over the city's police force and deployed the National Guard.

Nearly 400 people have been arrested in the capital since the takeover last week, and today Mississippi and Louisiana joined a number of other Republican-led states in sending hundreds more troops to the nation's capital.

In recent days, our team has fanned out across the city to hear how daily life has changed and what residents make of the president's move.

Hundreds of National Guard troops are now stationed around parts of Washington, D.C., and its iconic landmarks.

Nightly checkpoints have become routine in some areas of the city... (CHANTING) GEOFF BENNETT: ... as have protests against the increased security presence.

JEFF LEVY, Washington, D.C., Resident: We don't have the sort of crime problem that President Trump is describing.

People do feel safe.

GEOFF BENNETT: Several D.C. residents, like retired George Washington University professor Jeff Levy, joined a recent protest in front of the Metropolitan Police headquarters.

JEFF LEVY: What the rest of the country needs to understand is, while they have more legal basis for doing it in D.C., this is their goal across the country.

PROTESTERS: Protect D.C.!

GEOFF BENNETT: This, Alexandria, Virginia, native, who asked us not to use her name, also joined the demonstrations.

PROTESTER: They're trying to make it less and less safe and make you more and more scared, so I hope people will just stand up and let their voices be heard, because most people do not want this.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lorena and Jahsiah Bowie just arrived in Washington, D.C., from Florida, as Jahsiah prepares to begin college at American University.

JAHSIAH BOWIE, American University Student: From what I have seen so far, D.C. has been one of the safest places I have been.

There is not one hint of some sort of crime epidemic.

GEOFF BENNETT: One of the first stops for the mother and son was the National Mall, where National Guard troops were on patrol, even stopping for photos with tourists.

LORENA BOWIE, Mother of Jahsiah Bowie: The National Guard is walking by.

So these are the first officers that we do see.

I was expecting them to be all over the place, and I guess little by little they are coming through everywhere.

To me, it's extremely sad because this is not what this country was founded on.

GEOFF BENNETT: Although the president declared a crime emergency in Washington, earlier this year, the Justice Department reported that violent crime in D.C. had hit a 30-year low.

And many residents want about life as usual over the weekend, including Jeff Menzer, who we met at a local farmers market.

JEFF MENZER, Washington, D.C., Resident: I generally feel safe.

I go out at night.

I -- fortunately, I do live in a neighborhood that is relatively safe.

It actually has an ongoing police presence because it's on Capitol Hill, but random crimes do happen.

GEOFF BENNETT: But a major reason cited by the Trump administration for placing the city under federal control was to target juvenile crime in the nation's capital... MAN: D.C. police say the three teen carjackers got caught up in traffic.

GEOFF BENNETT: ... which soared in Washington during the pandemic as well as around the country.

It has since fallen to levels seen in other cities, but then came a highly publicized attack on a Trump administration official by a group of teenagers earlier this month.

JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia: I see too much violent crime being committed by young punks who think that they can get together in gangs and crews and beat the hell out of you or anyone else.

GEOFF BENNETT: Sajib Uddula and his wife own this convenience store at Hechinger Mall in Northeast D.C., an area long plagued by high crime.

Their store was recently robbed and vandalized by dozens of teenagers, and Uddula says D.C. police needs more help.

SAJIB UDDULA, Business Owner: It's like 30 -- more than 30 kids robbing us, and they show up like more than 30 minutes later.

That's when I don't think so there are enough.

They might be busy for somewhere else, so is not -- I don't think so, is not enough police around here.

GEOFF BENNETT: They say they welcome the federal takeover, but at least so far they say they haven't seen an increase in security in this neighborhood.

TAMIKA ALSTON, Business Owner: Of course, they're going to be over there quiet, because it's close to the White House or the Capitol or something.

They need to have it more in the D.C. area, where they know the crime is.

GEOFF BENNETT: Not far from their store, Abdullah Saleem runs this boxing gym in the Trinidad neighborhood, where he mentors local teens.

ABDULLAH SALEEM, Flatline Boxing and Fitness: We need order in our city.

If you don't have no order, you ain't got no city.

GEOFF BENNETT: He hasn't seen an increased presence in his neighborhood either, but he says he supports what the president is doing.

ABDULLAH SALEEM: I have been seeing a lot of atrocity, a lot of murders, a lot of innocent children, a lot of innocent babies, and there's nothing done about it.

MAN: Wearing the handcuffs with no reason.

GEOFF BENNETT: While much of the effort so far appears to have focused on areas closer to the White House, federal agents have shown up in some high-crime areas of the city, but some residents aren't happy about it.

MAN: They start pulling up, just instantly hopped out, stopped razzing us, put one of my homeys in handcuffs like... GEOFF BENNETT: This 19-year-old, who asked us not to use his name, lives in Ward 8 in Southeast Washington, which has among the highest crime rates in the city.

Last week, he recorded this video showing agents from multiple agencies at this housing complex, where he says he and his friends were simply hanging out late into the evening.

MAN: They had firearms.

They had big weapons, and we didn't have nothing but just ourselves to protect and make sure everybody was good.

They are just basically harassing us for real.

NATHANIEL LONG, Co-Owner, District Alley: People getting pulled over left and right.

I seen checkpoints everywhere.

I felt like I was in a foreign country.

GEOFF BENNETT: Nathaniel Long co-owns District Alley, a bar in the popular nightlife area of U Street in Northwest D.C., where social media video has captured crowds reacting to the new checkpoints.

He agrees that crime is an issue in D.C., but says the White House won't solve it by force alone.

NATHANIEL LONG: It's like a takeover instead of, like, let's add some aid and let's work with the local authorities and city.

I mean, it's like a bull in a china shop.

And it doesn't have to be that way.

GEOFF BENNETT: This year, House Republicans have withheld more than a billion of D.C.'s budget, while the White House has also made cuts, including to police, security and the courts.

That's added to many residents' skepticism about President Trump's plans for D.C. MAN: They told us they was coming every today.

Like, so that's basically what I'm expecting, for them to come every day.

JEFF MENZER: The problem is, the threat is always going to be there.

This administration, this president has a pretty short attention span, that they will have to move on to something else, and perhaps they will release the Epstein files.

JAHSIAH BOWIE: We have gone through many dark times before, and I think this is just another dark time.

And I do believe that it's up to us as citizens to stay active and to not give up or give in.

GEOFF BENNETT: The emergency authority gives the president power over the city's police force for 30 days, but he's already said he wants that extended.