With only a few days left in 2011, the District is likely to see fewer murders this year than at any point in the last five decades.

This week, Mayor Vince Gray introduced legislation to end a controversial practice of arresting drivers with expired registrations. Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police’s Metropolitan Police Department Labor Committee, argues that the only reason the law may be changed is that a series of scandals have made Gray and the D.C. Council vulnerable to political pressure from both inside and outside the District.