FBI Crime Stats: Crime Dropped as Soon as Obama Left Office, Trump Took Over
In an op-ed this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited a reduction in violent crime, rape and robbery as proof that President Donald Trump has been successful thus far in his mission to fight crime and put a stop to the “carnage.”
“(I)n 2015 and 2016, our country experienced the largest increases in violent crime we had seen in a quarter-century,” Sessions wrote for USA Today. “Over those two years, the violent crime rate went up by nearly 7%. The robbery rate went up. The assault rate went up nearly 10%. The rate of rape went up 11%. And the murder rate went up by a shocking 20%.”
According to newly released FBI data, these rates declined during the first half of 2017, with violent crime dropping by 0.8 percent, robbery dropping by 2.2 percent, assault dropping by 0.1 percent and rape dropping by 2.4 percent.
Though murder admittedly increased by 1.5 percent, Sessions stressed that this increase was a dramatic reduction from the 8.5 percent increase in murders experienced in 2016.
According to the attorney general, the reason for these fairly positive numbers rests primarily with the president, who stepped into the White House on Jan. 20, 2017.
“Trump ran for office on a message of law and order, and he won. When he took office, he ordered the Department of Justice to stop and reverse these trends — and that is what we have been doing every day for the past year,” he wrote, referencing the increase in crime seen during the administration of former President Barack Obama.
As a reminder, Obama spent much of his tenure in the White House demeaning America’s law enforcement officers as racists and seemingly making light of the many police assassinations that occurred under his watch.
The former president was so disliked by law enforcement that William Johnson, the executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, accused him of waging a “war on cops” two years ago, as reported then by Politico.
He specifically said that he felt as if the Obama administration’s “continued appeasements” of anti-cop activists and refusal to condone Black Lives Matter “has led directly to the climate that has made Dallas possible.”
Johnson made the remarks a day after a thug fueled by BLM’s toxic rhetoric killed five Dallas police officers during an ambush.
“It’s a war on cops,” he added. “And the Obama administration is the Neville Chamberlain of this war.”
Whereas Trump is no doubt the Winston Churchill of this war, in that he’s put an end to it, as Sessions articulated in his op-ed.
“When President Trump was inaugurated, he made the American people a promise: ‘This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,'” he wrote. “It is a promise that he has kept.”
How? By placing “trust in our prosecutors again,” “restoring respect for law enforcement,” investing “in new resources” and putting in place “smarter policies based on sound research.”
And let’s also not forget all the love the president has shown our men and women in blue:
“Of course, our work is not done. Crime is still far too high — especially in the most vulnerable neighborhoods,” Sessions concluded. “This first year of the Trump era shows once again that the difficult work we do alongside our state, local and tribal law enforcement partners makes a difference. Crime rates are not like the tides — we can help change them. And under Trump’s strong leadership, we will.”
Yes, we will indeed.
Please share this story on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what you think about the reduction in crime seen during the first six months of President Donald Trump’s presidency.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
