How Trump uses “pure lies” to high crimes against American cities to justify federal takeover | Trump administration

when Donald Trump On Monday, he announced a federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., where he left room for the possibility of similar actions in other U.S. cities to remind them of their high crime rates.

“Look Chicagohow bad it is. Look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. “We have other very bad cities. We won’t let it happen, we won’t lose cities,” Trump said.

But experts and elected officials have been Quickly refute Trump’s claimsnoting how major cities have actually peaked during the pandemic, violent crime rates have dropped sharply since the pandemic’s peak.

“Every category of crime and every population group FBI Jeff Asher, an analyst who studies criminal justice data, said: “The cover reports on the situation nationwide.

Experts say the downward trend has been consistent across the country since around 2022 as the country begins to recover from the pandemic.

“It’s obvious that a lot of what we’ve seen in the Covid-19 era has reversed,” said Ames Grawert, senior legal counsel at the Brennan Justice Center, which studies crime trends.

While it is impossible to isolate the exact cause of crime during the pandemic, several experts point out that the collapse of social services is one reason. Since then, state and federal agencies have invested funds into communities for gun violence programs and more street lights on local roads.

These programs are the same as those that are cut Trump administration Collecting federal spending has been prioritized. Ministry of Justice Cancel Earlier this year, hundreds of funded violence prevention and victim service programs, affecting organizations in 37 states.

The elected officials quickly slammed Trump The federal take over their cityciting local data that matches the same trends in the FBI data, shows improvements in public safety and points to recent funding cuts.

In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson said last year alone, shootings fell 40%.

He said: “If President Trump wants to help make Chicago safer, he can first release funds from anti-violence programs that are crucial to our work, which is crucial to our work.

Local and State officials in Maryland issued A joint statement similarly criticized the president for making false narratives about where they live and work.

“As the leader of Baltimore MarylandWe strongly oppose the president’s latest power grab, which is based on the pure lies of our community. ” said the statement.

Officials noted that violent crime has dropped by 40% since 2021 and said progress has been made on public safety issues despite the challenges of funding cuts from the Trump administration. They said Trump did not call the National Guard, but was working with local officials.

“We know from our experience of how to improve public safety: empower our community partners and violence, invest in our young people, and prosecute repeated violent criminals who work with law enforcement,” the statement said.

exist New Yorkofficials also quickly postponed Trump’s comments.

“New York is heading in the right direction of public safety,” Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday. Although he added that he would be happy to accept more federal support, he added: “We don’t need anyone to come in and take over our law enforcement agencies, but we have the best police stations in the world.”

Even Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel in Joe Rogan’s podcast In June, the murder rate is expected to reach its historic low this year.

“If we, the FBI and our government partners achieve the mission, we will give the American people the lowest murder rate for decades,” he said.

Rachel Eisenberg, managing director of rights and justice at the Center for Progress, said that while crime rates are moving in the right direction, there are efforts to improve public safety issues. But, she said, the community can still best address these challenges, rather than federal forces, responding to local officials’ concerns.

“What Trump is doing now has nothing to do with public safety,” she said. “It’s a political theater.”

trump card double In Wednesday’s claim, it was implied that criminal statistics were fraudulent, and no statistics were specified. “Crime is the worst ever,” he said.

National Guard Arrives Washington, DC This week, Thaddeus Johnson, a senior fellow at the Criminal Justice Commission, said arrests could increase in the near term.

“It really captures people and people’s hearts because it’s really on people’s fears,” Johnson said.

Ultimately, it is crucial to address socio-economic factors such as access to housing, unemployment and income inequality to improve public safety, he said.

“Putting the Fed in is not the long-term answer,” Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Trump has announced his policy has won. “People already feel safe,” he said Wednesday. “They are no longer afraid.”