In an August 20, 2024, speech to a group of law enforcement officers in Howell, Michigan, former President Donald Trump attacked Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on public safety, falsely claiming that “she repeatedly endorsed defunding the police” and that “if she ever had a chance, she would do whatever she could to defund the police.”
No surprise, Trump twisted the facts. He was blatantly mischaracterizing statements then-Sen. Harris (D-CA) made in 2020 in response to the national outcry against police brutality sparked by the murder of George Floyd. During a series of interviews, when discussing repeated calls by protesters, advocates, and policymakers to “defund the police,” Harris called upon communities to “reimagine how we create public safety.” She noted that many cities invest one-third of their resources in law enforcement while neglecting to fund education, housing, small-business, and other social services proven to prevent crime. She also called attention to the disparate approaches to public safety in wealthy and poorer neighborhoods. At a time when the political discourse was caught in a bitter debate about the right way to address these systemic issues, Harris directed the conversation toward strategies that make communities safer and called for investing in comprehensive solutions.
In the same August 20 speech, Trump later mischaracterizes public safety trends at the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, claiming “[Harris’] administration’s crime statistics show she presided over a 43 percent increase in violent crime.” Trump is referring to outdated data from a Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) that showed a 43 percent increase in violent crime victimizations between 2021 and 2022. Notably, FBI data on reported crime actually showed a decrease in overall violent crime in the country from 2021 to 2022, but the two sources reflect a different time period and NCVS data do not account for changes to murder rates, which saw the most significant decline between 2021 and 2022. Trump cherry-picked this outdated statistic from 2 1/2 years ago because it makes a convenient political narrative and does not reflect the substantial progress made during the Biden-Harris administration.
The Trump campaign would rather mislead the public with outdated numbers than accept the fact that violent crime has fallen to a 50-year low while Kamala Harris was vice president.
The Biden-Harris administration supports police in addressing serious crime
Contrary to Trump’s false accusations that Vice President Harris would defund the police if given the chance, Harris has never defunded the police; in fact, her campaign has clearly demonstrated support for law enforcement, alongside a wide range of public safety strategies. Harris campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu clarified her current position, telling CNN that she supports police funding as well as funding for “rehabilitation and things that might [make the] criminal justice system safer. You can do both.”
Vice President Harris has implemented this kind of comprehensive approach. In 2021, the Biden-Harris administration championed the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which included the single-greatest new investment in state and local public safety efforts in recent history. ARPA, which every Republican member of Congress opposed, invested more than $15 billion in efforts by states and localities to improve public safety and to build up community-based safety strategies. These include investing in both “effective, accountable policing” and crime prevention and intervention programs and reducing the prevalence and availability of guns.
False claims about defunding local police departments
In an effort to mislead the public on Democratic public safety strategies, Republicans have spent the past four years attacking Democrats for defunding local police departments. In reality, cities with Democratic mayors have invested more in policing in 2022 than they had in 2019—and more than their Republican counterparts. Plus Democratic leaders, recognizing that policing alone cannot achieve lasting public safety, have also invested in robust community-led approaches.
To improve policing, communities have used ARPA funding to invest in police equipment and infrastructure, as well as to create hiring incentives and bonuses to improve police recruitment and retention. Although police departments, like many other municipal workforces, experienced staffing shortages during the pandemic, the law enforcement hiring and retention rates started to rebound in 2023.
In 2023, the Biden-Harris administration increased its annual grantmaking investment in efforts to improve public safety by state and local law enforcement, research entities, and community-based organizations. Upon hearing from law enforcement leaders about the dangers of “ghost guns” in their communities, the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice updated regulations to reduce the proliferation of these dangerous and untraceable firearms. The Biden-Harris administration also invested in law enforcement efforts to combat the illicit fentanyl trafficking operations of powerful drug cartels and seized historic amounts of illicit drugs at the southern border.
The Biden-Harris administration supports community-based strategies that ease burdens on police and prevent crime
The Biden-Harris administration encouraged states and localities to use ARPA funding to expand community-based programs that alleviate the burden on police to respond to situations outside the scope of their expertise, allowing them to focus on the difficult and important job of responding to serious crime. ARPA funding was bolstered by the resources made available through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant federal gun safety legislation in 30 years, as well as other dedicated federal grant programs. These community collaborations also help improve trust between police and the communities they serve, so that community members are more willing to collaborate in investigations and other crime-prevention efforts.
Police are increasingly supportive of community-based strategies and of community members as essential partners in the public safety ecosystem. In a recent survey, 87 percent of police officers acknowledged that community members share responsibility with them for addressing violence. Kansas City, Missouri, Police Chief Stacey Graves stated, “I envision a citywide approach to violent crime. Everyone in Kansas City should care about violent crime and all work together to stop it.” Albuquerque, New Mexico, Police Commander Jeff Barnard similarly said that he would like to see Albuquerque’s mental and behavioral health response teams “get additional funding and resources to continue to work on the things they’re working on.”
Two of the most successful and widely implemented community-based strategies are community violence intervention (CVI) programs and community responder programs.
CVI programs are effective community collaborations focused on reducing gun violence that are expanding in cities across the country thanks to federal investments. These programs intervene with and offer support services to the small number of people who are most connected to local cycles of gun violence, addressing the drivers of violence and thereby saving countless lives. CVI programs, when properly implemented and sustained, have reduced shootings by as much as 60 percent.
Community responder programs are community collaborations that involve dispatching to 911 calls teams of specially trained professionals who can de-escalate, resolve conflict, and provide connections to services for low-risk situations that involve behavioral health, homelessness, and other quality-of-life concerns. These programs can significantly reduce the types of crime that they target and decrease the rate of criminalization of mental health crises.
Conclusion
Kamala Harris has a long record of prioritizing public safety through improved accountability for people who commit serious crime and through robust investments in crime prevention. Contrary to Trump’s failed attempts to cast her as an enemy of the police, Harris has demonstrated commitment, time and again, to a comprehensive approach to the complex challenges posed by crime nationwide. She has shown unwavering support for the police and the important work of fighting serious crime and taking guns off our streets. Harris has called for expanding social services, education, and economic opportunity for marginalized communities, as well as for increasing the breadth and depth of public safety professionals, such as violence interrupters and crisis responders, who are available to help in an emergency.
Americans have experienced a significant reduction in crime since Kamala Harris became vice president. There is much more work to be done to improve public safety, and Harris has demonstrated a commitment to it throughout her career.