By the Republican National Committee

LAW ENFORCEMENT OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORTS PRESIDENT TRUMP

• Police are fed up with Democrats’ lack of respect for public safety and know that President Trump is the only candidate who will stand up for law enforcement and be tough on crime.
• President Trump has the support of the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation’s largest police union with more than 377,000 members.
  • Patrick Yoes, President of the National Fraternal Order of Police: “Our members carefully considered the positions of the candidates on the issues and there was no doubt—zero doubt—as to who they want as our President for the next four years: Donald J. Trump.”
  • Yoes: “During his first term, President Trump made it clear he supported law enforcement and border security. In the summer of 2020, he stood with us when very few would.  With his help, we defeated the ‘defund the police’ movement.”
• In addition to the FOP, President Trump has earned the endorsement of the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) and International Union of Police Associations (IUPA).
• At the state level, the Police Officers Association of Michigan, Arizona Police Association, and Florida Police Benevolent Association have all thrown their support behind President Trump.
  • Police Officers Association of Michigan, “From increasing funding for police departments to championing initiatives that targeted crime reduction, Trump’s administration prioritized the needs of law enforcement professionals and the communities they serve.”
  • Florida Police Benevolent Association: “On behalf of the 30,000 members of Florida’s largest law enforcement union, the Florida PBA is proud to once again endorse you for president of the United States.”
• Numerous local police organizations have also endorsed Trump, including the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the Suffolk County Police Officers’ Union, the Milwaukee Police Association, and the Kenosha Professional Police Association.

PRESIDENT TRUMP SPENT HIS FIRST TERM FIGHTING FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

• President Trump signed an order repealing restrictions on the transfer of lifesaving surplus military equipment for police that were put in place during the Obama administration.
  • Local law enforcement officials praised the program, saying it is a way to acquire equipment that is useful in dangerous situations without stretching tight budgets.
• President Trump signed an executive order to help prevent violence against federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement officers.
• President Trump revived civil asset forfeiture policies, a “critical tool” for law enforcement.
• President Trump signed the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act, aimed at improving mental health services for law enforcement.
• President Trump revitalized Project Safe Neighborhoods, which brings together federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials to develop solutions to violent crime.
• President Trump signed a 9/11 victim compensation bill that permanently aided first responders and their families.
• President Trump established a new commission to study key issues facing law enforcement, such as substance abuse, homelessness, and mental illness, as well as best practices for recruiting, training, and supporting law enforcement officers.
• President Trump signed a bill that extended death and disability benefits under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program to officers who die or become injured as a result of COVID.
• President Trump’s DOJ provided nearly $400 million for new law enforcement hiring.
  • The funding was awarded to 596 law enforcement agencies across the nation, which allowed those agencies to hire 2,732 additional full-time law enforcement professionals.

PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL AGAIN REVITALIZE AND PROTECT LAW ENFORCEMENT

• President Trump will revitalize police departments and reclaim safety, dignity, and peace for law-abiding Americans.
• In his second term, President Trump will:
  • Deliver record funding to hire and retrain police officers.
  • Strengthen qualified immunity and other protections for police officers.
  • Increase penalties for assaults on law enforcement.
  • Put violent offenders and career criminals behind bars.
  • Surge federal prosecutors and the National Guard into high-crime communities.
  • Deputize the National Guard and local law enforcement to assist with rapidly removing illegal alien gang members and criminals. 
• President Trump has pledged to sign a “record investment in hiring, retention, and training for police officers” that will “increase vital liability protections for America’s law enforcement officers.”
  • President Trump has promised to “indemnify all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong action on crime.”
• President Trump will “restore safety in our neighborhoods by replenishing Police Departments, restoring Common Sense Policing, and protecting Officers from frivolous lawsuits.” 
• President Trump will require local law enforcement agencies receiving DOJ grants to return to proven policing measures such as stop-and-frisk, strictly enforcing existing gun laws, cracking down on the open use of illegal drugs, and cooperating with ICE to arrest and deport criminal aliens.
• President Trump will order the Education and Justice Departments to overhaul federal standards on disciplining minors.
• President Trump will order the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to “dismantle every gang, street crew, and drug network in America.”
• President Trump will take on the radical Marxist prosecutors who have abolished cash bail and refuse to charge criminals.
• President Trump has demanded the death sentence for anyone who murders a police officer, as well as for drug dealers and human traffickers.

CRIME HAS SOARED UNDER HARRIS-BIDEN AND AMERICANS ARE FEELING IT

• New data from the DOJ’s National Crime Victimization Survey shows crime rates are up under Kamala Harris.
  • Violent crime is up 37 percent, rape is up 42 percent, robbery is up 63 percent, assault is up 34 percent, violent crime (excluding simple assault) is up 55 percent, domestic violence is up 32 percent, stranger violence is up 61 percent, and motor vehicle theft is up 42 percent since Harris and Biden took office.  
  • This is the case across all demographics, with violent crime up 54 percent for Black Americans, up 34 percent for Hispanic Americans, up 43 percent for Asian Americans, up 73 percent for older Americans, and up 49 percent for women.  
• From 2021 to 2023, more police officers were feloniously killed (194) than in any other consecutive three-year period in the past 20 years.
  • 79,091 officers were assaulted in 2023, marking the highest officer assault rate in the past 10 years.
• As of June 2024, 61 percent of registered voters say the criminal justice system in the United States is not tough enough on criminals.
  • A recent Gallup poll also found that forty percent of Americans, the most in three decades, say they would be afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of their home.
• Organized retail theft has also grown in recent years as criminal groups have “become more brazen and violent in their tactics and have utilized new channels to resell stolen goods.”
  • A majority of consumers now believe retail crimes like shoplifting have increased in their communities since the pandemic.

POLICE DEPARTMENTS NATIONWIDE ARE STRUGGLING UNDER THE HARRIS-BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

• 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.
• 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.
• In Minneapolis, the 2020 protests decimated the police force – the number of officers dropped from 892 in June 2020 to 568 in July 2024.
• With so few officers, the Boston police department’s spending on overtime pay exceeded the force’s overtime budget by 44 percent.
• Baltimore is short nearly 600 officers and despite higher starting salaries and substantial signing bonuses the city can’t find enough people who want to become officers.

HARRIS IS A DEFUND THE POLICE RADICAL

• Harris has repeatedly stated that the U.S. needs to “reimagine” law enforcement, arguing for less police in the streets and redirecting funding from law enforcement to other services.
  • In June 2020, Harris said she believes “we have to redirect resources” from police to other areas of government.
• Harris believes it is “outdated” and “wrongheaded” to think that more policing will make communities safer, adding, “what we have to do, and what we will do, is reimagine public safety.”
• Harris supports diverting resources away from law enforcement to “addressing mental health, homeless and substance abuse.” 
• As a senator, Harris applauded Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s move to cut about $150 million from a planned increase to the city’s police budget.
• In 2022, Harris endorsed Democrat Senate nominee Mandela Barnes, a radical activist who has called to defund the police and abolish ICE.
• Harris donated several thousand dollars in recent years to Legal Aid DC, a radical nonprofit organization that has pushed to defund the police.

HARRIS HAS REPEATEDLY ATTACKED AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Harris attacked law enforcement amid violent riots in Portland, Oregon, referring to police forces as a “paramilitary occupation” and part of an authoritarian “federal incursion.”
  • Harris called federal law enforcement a “burden” and demanded their immediate removal from Portland.
  • Harris accused federal law enforcement of causing “horrific injuries” to “peaceful protesters” and said they were “grabbing protesters off the street.”
• Harris said there is “good reason for communities to distrust law enforcement.”
• Harris believes the U.S. needs to “demilitarize police departments.”
• Harris would end qualified immunity for police officers.
• As District Attorney, Harris refused to seek the death penalty against a gang member who killed a police officer.

HARRIS SUPPORTS DISASTROUS SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES

• Harris supports eliminating cash bail, a disastrous policy that releases dangerous offenders out onto the streets.
  • The Minneapolis Freedom Fund, which Harris promoted, bailed out dangerous criminals who went on to reoffend.
• Harris would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for criminals and give judges wide discretion in lowering sentencing.
• Harris would “significantly increase [the] use of clemency.”
• Rather than sending criminals to prison, Harris aims to “end mass incarceration” by focusing on “non-carceral social supports and programs.”
  • Harris would “end juvenile incarceration in favor of restorative justice programs and wrap-around services, except for the most serious crimes.”
• As California’s Attorney General, Harris backed Proposition 47, which reclassified shoplifting under $950 as a misdemeanor and resulted in most shoplifters only receiving a fine. 
• Harris supports decriminalizing federal drug possession, including fentanyl and heroin, for personal use.

Originally posted here.