I’m Running for Congress Because Public Safety Requires Legitimacy, Not Force Alone

Public safety is not sustained by force alone. It depends on legitimacy—on whether people believe authority is exercised with restraint, fairness, and accountability. When that legitimacy erodes, trust collapses, cooperation disappears, and communities become less safe for everyone, including law enforcement.

That is the reality facing too many communities across Virginia and the country today.

I am running for Congress because Congress has failed to confront this problem with the seriousness it deserves. For more than three decades, my opponent has served in Washington. Experience matters. Longevity alone is not leadership. Leadership is measured by outcomes—and the outcomes speak for themselves. After 32 years in office, the results are a system that too often escalates crisis instead of stabilizing it, and a federal government that talks about reform while avoiding the hard work of accountability.

I was born in 1993—the year my opponent entered Congress. Easy math. In that time, policing has changed, communities have changed, and the demands placed on law enforcement have changed. Congress has not kept pace.

Too many Americans encounter government only in moments of disruption: a mental health crisis, a school incident, a hospital security call, or a routine interaction that escalates unnecessarily. In those moments, the quality of response matters more than slogans. When authority is exercised without restraint or transparency, it undermines public safety itself.

This is not an anti-law-enforcement argument. It is a pro-legitimacy one.

Police officers are asked to manage situations involving trauma, mental illness, addiction, and poverty—often without adequate training, clear standards, or independent oversight. When systems fail, officers are left exposed, communities are harmed, and accountability becomes politicized instead of structural.

Congress sets the rules that govern how federal power flows into state and local policing. When Congress hesitates, ordinary people pay the price.

That is why, in my first 100 days in office, I will introduce the Trauma-Informed Policing Standards Act—legislation designed to strengthen public safety by restoring trust where it matters most.

The bill is guided by a simple principle: legitimacy comes before force.

First, it ties federal law-enforcement funding to trauma-informed training and graduated response standards. Officers should be equipped to de-escalate situations involving mental health crises, youth, and vulnerable populations—not forced into binary choices between inaction and force.

Second, it establishes independent review mechanisms for misconduct in controlled environments—such as hospitals, schools, detention facilities, and other sensitive settings. These are places where power imbalances are highest and oversight is weakest. Accountability cannot depend on internal review alone.

Third, it expands Department of Justice authority to address systemic rights violations before they become national scandals. Waiting for catastrophe is not oversight. It is abdication.

These reforms protect everyone. They protect communities from unnecessary harm, officers from unclear expectations, and taxpayers from the enormous costs—financial and human—of failure.

We already know what does not work. For decades, Congress has relied on voluntary guidelines, pilot programs, and after-the-fact investigations. Meanwhile, trust has eroded, litigation has exploded, and communities remain divided.

That is not a failure of individual officers. It is a failure of governance.

Public safety improves when people believe the system is fair—when rules are clear, oversight is real, and authority is exercised with care. Countries and jurisdictions that prioritize legitimacy see higher cooperation, lower violence, and better outcomes for officers and civilians alike.

This race is about accountability. Not punishment. Accountability.

Members of Congress are paid more than twice the wage of the average American. Show me an average worker who could keep their job after decades of missed deadlines and unmeasured outcomes. Democracy should demand at least the same standard from its leaders.

I did not come through a traditional political pipeline. I came through lived experience inside systems that people encounter at their most vulnerable—systems that too often respond with delay, confusion, or force when clarity and care are needed most.

I am not running to be loud. I am running to be effective.

Leadership matters most before crisis becomes catastrophe. Congress must stop reacting and start governing. Public safety depends on it. 

Justin Garvin Maffett is a candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 3rd District.