Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a national program Tuesday to slash rising violent crime rates in 12 major cities following an executive order from President Donald Trump.
The DOJ announcement came just before Sessions gave the opening presentation at the National Summit on Crime Reduction and Public Safety near Washington, D.C. The program, the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP), provides increased federal assistance to local, state, and tribal law enforcement officers, specifically to target violent gun and gang crime, according to a DOJ statement.
“Our new National Public Safety Partnership program will help these communities build up their own capacity to fight crime, by making use of data-driven, evidence-based strategies tailored to specific local concerns, and by drawing upon the expertise and resources of our Department,” Sessions said in the statement.
While DOJ expects more cities to join within the year, the 12 cities already enrolled are:
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Toledo, Ohio
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Buffalo, New York
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Houston, Texas
- Jackson, Tennessee
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Lansing, Michigan
- Springfield, Illinois
The PSP is part of the overarching Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety group established by Sessions following a Feb. 9 executive order from President Donald Trump to assist local and state programs to “make America safe again.” (RELATED: Jeff Sessions Alone Pushing ‘Tough-On-Crime’ Policy In Country Ready For Reform)
Sessions has shown he also wants to crack down on nonviolent crime, ordering DOJ prosecutors in March to pursue the most severe penalties for the most severe crimes that any criminal could be convicted of, thereby reviving a policy struck down by the Obama administration.
“Turning back the recent troubling increase of violent crime in our country is a top priority of the Department of Justice and the Trump Administration, as we work to fulfill the president’s promise to make America safe again,” Sessions said in a statement.
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