By the Republican National Committee

BIDEN HAS EMPOWERED SOFT-ON-CRIME DEMOCRATS

• Biden has failed to stand up to the radicals in his own party who have pushed for defunding the police and has surrounded himself with an administration full of defund the police activists.
  • Biden’s Vice President Kamala Harris supports “reimagining” the police, saying putting “more police on the streets” is not the way to make communities safer.
  • Biden’s Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta stated “It is also critical… to decrease police budgets and the scope, role, and responsibility of police in our lives.”
  • Biden’s Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke wrote an op-ed where she repeatedly called for defunding cops, saying “we must invest less in police.”
  • Biden’s former Senior Advisor for Public Engagement Keisha Lance Bottoms admitted she was defunding the police through a “reallocation of resources” when she served as Atlanta’s Mayor.
  • The Biden administration has hosted numerous defund the police activists according to White House visitor logs.
• Despite skyrocketing crime, Democrats continue to endorse an anti-police agenda.
  • Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) recently held an event with anti-police activist group the Indivisible Project, an anti-police activist group.
    • Following the event, Christopher Eiserman, head of the Fraternal Order of Police in Delaware County, offered his endorsement to Republican senatorial candidate Dave McCormick.
  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) recently called police involvement at a pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia University a “horrific decision.”
    • NYPD Police Chief John Chell pushed back on AOC, writing, “Truly amazing! Columbia decided to hold its students accountable to the laws of the school. They are seeing the consequences of their actions … Good SAT scores and self-entitlement do not supersede the law.”
    • Chell: “The only incidents that day on campus were the student’s hateful anti-Semitic speech and vile language towards our cops.”
    • Meanwhile, President Trump has said it is a “shame” that there are not more police at college protests.
• Police are fed up with Democrats’ lack of respect for public safety.
  • After NYPD officer Jonathan Diller was slain by a man with 21 prior arrests in March, NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association wrote a letter stating, “I’m sure that many elected officials will attend PO Diller’s funeral, shed a few crocodile tears, and prominently seat themselves for a good photo opportunity … The sad reality is we don’t want them there.”
    • NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong: “The Council members who are vehemently and inexplicably against public safety are responsible for the carnage in the streets and the heartbreak brought about by PO Diller’s completely avoidable death … Those in the Council who have declared war on the police should be the ones put under a microscope and investigated by an outside agency for every legislative mistake and misstep they make.”

ANTI-POLICE RHETORIC HAS MADE IT HARDER TO HIRE AND RETAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

• Police departments are struggling to combat both a lack of funds and a lack of respect as they try to do their jobs.
  • Democrats are on record repeatedly calling to defund the police and following through by slashing money from police budgets.
• The Police Executive Research Forum found a nationwide decline of 4.8 percent in police numbers compared to three years ago.
• Since 2020, several small towns have had to completely disband their police departments due to hiring challenges as well as budget constraints.
• The San Francisco Police Department has more than 500 openings while the San Francisco Police Academy is struggling to recruit new potential officers.
• More than 2,500 police officers resigned from the New York Police Department in 2023, 43 percent more than in 2018.
  • As part of city budget cuts, New York City will suspend police academy classes for 1.5 years, making it even more difficult for police precincts to find new officers.
• The Washington, D.C., police force is at its smallest size in 50 years amidst a staggering rise in carjackings and homicides.
• Over 140 Illinois police departments report being understaffed, forcing the departments to lower standards for educational and criminal records to achieve “bare minimum staffing.”
  • Illinois is losing officers who are transferring to more conservative and police-friendly states such as Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky.

CRIME IS ON THE RISE AS DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO LET POLICE DO THEIR JOBS

• More and more homicides are going unsolved, with the homicide clearance rate dropping steadily to now just 50 percent.
  • Chris Swecker, former FBI assistant director, has attributed this drop to both a lack of respect for law enforcement, leading to less cooperation from the community in investigations, and a cutting of police resources. 
• In most cities, homicide rates remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.
  • Homicides in Chicago are up more than 23 percent compared to 2019.
  • Murders in New York City are up 23.1 percent from 2019 levels, while felony assault is up 35.4 percent. 
• According to the Department of Justice, there has been a major trend of crimes going underreported to the police since 2020.
  • In September 2023, the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey showed a 44 percent increase in violent crime from 2021 to 2022.  
• Last year in Washington, D.C., car thefts were up 82 percent, homicides up 35 percent, and robberies up 67 percent.
  • Despite the increase in crime, prosecutors in D.C. had a 67 percent declination rate, while Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, blamed police for bringing weak cases.
  • D.C.‘s former police chief, Robert Contee, pushed back on Graves, arguing, “I can promise you, it’s not MPD holding the bag on this.”
• Police in St. Louis have complained that “a lack of respect for law enforcement” has led to rise in people refusing to pull over for traffic violations.
  • Due to restraints on policing, police are not allowed to pursue people who fail to pull over when flagged for traffic violations.
  • Police in the city warn this has made driving less safe as drivers are emboldened to speed and ignore traffic signs without fear of consequences.

AMERICANS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT CRIME AND TRUST REPUBLICANS TO FIX IT

• At the end of 2023, 63 percent of Americans said crime is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the U.S., the highest percentage since Gallup started asking the question.
  • 77 percent of Americans believe there is more crime in the U.S. than a year ago.
• 46 percent of voters believe Republicans do a better job handling crime, compared to only 20 percent who said Democrats, according to an NBC News poll.
• In the latest Rasmussen poll, 53 percent of voters say they trust Republicans more on crime and law enforcement issues, while only 35 percent said they trust Democrats more.
• President Trump has already received endorsements from several law enforcement organizations in the 2024 presidential election, including the board of the International Union of Police Associations, the Florida Police Benevolent Association, the Police Officers Association of Michigan.

Originally posted here.