Donald Trump's already-ongoing campaign for President in 2024 has revealed a new plan for policing, crime prevention, and safety, according to the campaign's press releases. In a video released this week, former president Trump detailed his proposed plans for national crime and safety measures while also taking a few jabs at his well-known Democrat rivals.
Trump has long presented himself as the "law and order" alternative to candidates he describes as softer on crime, and it appears his campaign is continuing this theme into the next election cycle. In his latest video announcement, which runs roughly five minutes, the former president detailed his plans for the future of crime and safety in the United States.
In the announcement, Trump proposes a series of new, high-value grants to state and local police jurisdictions to hire, train, and improve policing across the nation. To qualify for those grants, however, the campaign proposes a few conditions. Excerpted from the announcement:
Second, to qualify for this new funding and all other Justice Department grants, I will insist that local jurisdictions return to proven common sense policing measures, such as stop and frisk...strictly enforcing existing gun laws against convicted felons, cracking down on the open use of illegal drugs, and cooperating with ICE to get criminal aliens off our streets and get them out of our country.
Like many components of modern policing, stop-and-frisk is controversial. Proponents claim it assists in preventing crime before it occurs, by being proactive in high-risk communities rather than reactive. Opponents (and some courts) claim it violates constitutional protections against unwarranted searches and seizures and some privacy rights. Trump and many other conservatives have long been supportive of the measures.
The announcement contained many other suggestions beyond those detailed above, however. Some of the most notable proposals include:
Investigating state-level prosecutors for declining to prosecute or charge certain crimes in left-leaning jurisdictions
Proposing the death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers
Deploying the National Guard to enforce federal law in jurisdictions where local police opt not to enforce existing laws
Instructing the Justice Department and Department of Education to rework the process for disciplining juvenile offenders
Trump concludes his proposals with the following statement:
I will discuss those plans in much more detail very soon. That is how I will bring back public safety to America. I want to thank you. We're going to Make America Great Again and we're going to Make America Safe Again. Thank you.
Polling shows that Trump's proposals may gain traction with the American public. Gallup polling on crime indicates that 70% of the population is either "somewhat" or "very" dissatisfied with the current policies on crime prevention, leaving an opportunity for politicians to propose a change. In the same polling, 56% of Americans state there is more crime in their area than there was a year prior, and a full 78% feel there is more crime nationwide.
As of this writing, Trump's opponents have not directly replied to his new proposed measures. It remains to be seen what positions Republican primary opponents may take in relation to Trump when campaigning for the nomination. Currently, only former president Trump and current officeholder Joe Biden have written plans for the nation on crime prevention. To review Trump's full plan, the links above offer a transcript from his announcement. President Biden's can be found here.
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