In the latest sign that Democrats are racing away from the “defund the police” movement, the Department of Justice has announced it will award $1.6 billion in grants to programs aimed at reducing violent crime.
The grants are the latest effort by the Biden administration to address rising crime rates.
FUND THE POLICE? BIDEN TRIES TO DISTANCE DEMOCRATS FROM DEFUND MOVEMENT
“The Department of Justice is committed to supporting our state and local partners to combat crime across the country,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “This latest round of funding will deliver critical public safety resources, helping public safety professionals, victim service providers, local agencies, and nonprofit organizations confront these serious challenges.”
The DOJ’s announcement about the program specifically mentions violent crime, human trafficking, and retail thefts among the problems it aims to address. Other goals include reducing recidivism and helping people transition from prisons back into communities.
Crime has become a prevalent issue in recent months, and voters are noticing. An ABC News/Ipsos poll published last week found that just 36% of voters approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of crime while 61% disapprove. On gun violence, 66% of voters disapprove of Biden’s performance, with 32% approving.
Despite the low numbers, Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said the new funding proves the commitment from the White House to fight crime in the face of Republican opposition.
“While the Biden administration is taking this seriously, every Republican in Congress voted against the American Rescue Plan, which provided extra money to police forces to fight crime,” he said. “Biden is taking it seriously, putting his money where his mouth is, and Republicans did everything they could to fight the president’s efforts to fight crime. Republicans are the ones who want to defund the police, not the Democrats.”
The poll numbers indicate voters are looking to Biden to address issues such as murder rates, which are up more than two-thirds in some major cities.
The perception of crime as a growing threat has also shown up in applications for concealed carry permits. Since late 2018, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office has approved roughly 2,100 concealed carry permit applications, compared to the less than 200 permit applications approved by the same office in the four years prior, according to a report by a California-based journalist.
Last month, Biden signed a trio of bipartisan bills designed to aid law enforcement the same week the DOJ announced $139 million in grants to hire more than 1,000 police officers.
“It’s going to require more resources, not fewer resources,” the president said at the time. “That’s why my administration is investing in the community policing we know works.”
While the Democratic establishment never fully supported the defund movement, any lingering perception the party played a role in spiking crime rates could hurt its candidates in the 2022 elections.
Bannon argues Biden and Democrats need to be more aggressive in their messaging about crime prevention, saying he thinks it’s possible to fund police departments fully while improving their relationships with local communities.
“The lesson is that you have to do both at the same time,” he said. “If you look at big-city police departments around the country, since George Floyd’s murder, they’ve tried to deal with the social and punitive aspects of the law enforcement process.”
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But questions remain about enforcement efforts, particularly as reform-minded district attorneys, such as Los Angeles County’s George Gascon and San Francisco’s Chesa Boudin, face accusations of being soft on crime.
For this reason, Republican strategist John Feehery argues the Left remains complicit in the crime spike.
“If George Soros prosecutors won’t prosecute, none of the Biden bucks in the world will make any difference,” he said. “The problem we have here is that the progressive Left is completely contemptuous of our laws and doesn’t really care if crime spirals out of control. Biden is putting lipstick on a pig. It won’t help him politically. It’s too late.”
