Washington – Crime is a focal point of former President Donald Trump’s bid for the White House, and he and Vice President Kamala Harris have worked hard to assume the mantle of a tough-on-crime candidate.
Violent crime and property crime fell overall last year, and the drop in homicides from 2022 to 2023 represents the largest drop in two decades, according to data from more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies. released by the FBI in September.
But that hasn’t stopped Trump from claiming US cities are declining and violence is on the rise. Harris, meanwhile, has highlighted her experience as a former California prosecutor and state attorney general as she seeks to show voters she has experience targeting violent offenders.
Trump sees himself as the “law and order” candidate.
The Republican presidential candidate repeatedly described himself as a “law and order” candidate and while on the campaign trail called for police officers to have the right to “immunity from prosecution.”
Trump laid out a “plan to restore law and order” in February 2023, which he said includes “record investments in hiring, retention and training” for police officers nationwide and strengthening accountability protections for law enforcement. The former president said he would give Justice Department and federal funds the use of “stop and frisk” and other tactics by local law enforcement agencies.
He also promised to “deploy federal assets” like the National Guard to restore “law and order” in the cities.
Compensation police
In recent months, Trump has stepped up his pledge to protect law enforcement, saying during a June rally that his administration would compensate police officers.
A 2014 study of compensation practices at 44 of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies and 37 small and medium-sized agencies found that police are almost always covered, that is, not financially responsible for settlements and trials in wrongdoing cases. A study by UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz found that between 2006 and 2011, the government paid about 99.98% of the money received by plaintiffs in lawsuits accusing police of violating civil rights.
During a speech in September accepting the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest organization of law enforcement officers, Trump called for “power and respect” for the police and suggested “one brutal hour” of the law enforcement response will slow down. in crime.
“It’s a rough hour, and I mean rough, the word is going out and it’s going to be over,” he told a crowd in Erie, Pennsylvania, last month.
Federal and migrant law enforcement
Trump has repeatedly floated using federal law enforcement resources to deal with migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. During a July 2023 speech, he called for changing “a large part of the existing federal law enforcement apparatus” – parts of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations – to focus on immigration.
Trump said he would pardon the defendant on January 6
While Trump has portrayed himself as the candidate for law enforcement, he has said he would pardon defendants convicted or pleaded guilty for their actions during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
The Republican presidential nominee has claimed they were “convicted by a very difficult system” and called January 6 rioters “hostages” and “political prisoners.”
Nearly 150 police officers were injured on January 6 and protesters were brought firearms, stun guns, flag poles, bear spray and tomahawk axes.
In April 2023, he also called on Republicans in Congress to defund the Justice Department and the FBI after him charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York. The former president found guilty on all counts by a jury in May.
Harris focused on his experience as a prosecutor
Harris has play up her experience as a former prosecutor, highlighting his work on violent offenders, drug traffickers and banks on mortgage foreclosure practices. He also sought to contrast his law enforcement background with Trump, who was convicted in May and faces federal charges in two separate cases. He has pleaded not guilty.
“I take criminals of all kinds: predators who abuse women; fraudsters who rip off consumers; cheaters who break the rules for their own gain,” he said at a campaign event in Atlanta in July. “So listen when I say I know the type of Donald Trump.”
While serving as a district attorney in San Francisco, Harris led a law enforcement training program on procedural fairness and implicit bias, designed to strengthen trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
In police misconduct, qualified immunity, defunding the police
During his time representing California in the Senate, he sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aims to address police misconduct Floyd died in May 2020. The measure would limit the use of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields law enforcement officers from liability, ban no-no-no bail in drug cases and chokeholds, and require federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, among other changes.
As vice president, Harris has repeatedly called on Congress to pass the measure.
In addition, while serving with President Biden, the government has implement the American Rescue Planwhich including funding for public safety and to maintain and hire police officers.
“The only candidate for president who has ever advocated for defunding the police or proposed cuts to law enforcement is Donald Trump,” said James Singer, Harris campaign spokesman. “Vice President Harris spent years prosecuting criminals and getting justice for victims, and has supported increased funding to keep our communities safe and hold convicted criminals like Trump accountable – which is why America is now experiencing a nearly 50-year high in violent crime.
After Floyd’s death, the vice president called for a “rethinking of how we do public safety in America” ​​and a conversation about “shifting resources” from the police to other government functions such as the public education system and social services.
But four years later, during a campaign stop in Las Vegas last month, Harris said that if elected, he would double the resources for the Department of Justice to target transnational cartels and take action to stop fentanyl flowing into the country.
After Harris was chosen as Mr. Biden’s running mate in October 2020, the campaign said neither Democrat supported defunding the police. Sabrina Singh, who was press secretary for Harris at the time, said she has supported funding for police departments and community policing.
