Trump backs local police in new executive order, rebukes Democrat crime policies that sowed 'chaos' across US
President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order backing local police departments with federal support in a rejection of left-wing "soft-on-crime policies" that "have fueled chaos" and caused Americans to live in fear, Fox News Digital learned.
On Monday, Trump is expected to sign an executive order that aims to "empower state and local law enforcement with federal resources, focus federal prosecutions on high-impact crimes, protect law-abiding Americans, and pursue legal remedies against obstructive state or local officials," a senior White House official shared with Fox News Digital Monday morning.
The order instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to implement a handful of policies and initiatives to bolster police departments, including create an avenue that provides legal resources to officers "facing unjust expenses from official duties"; increase "surplus military assets for local law enforcement and evaluate their use in crime prevention"; ensure racial discrimination investigations in law enforcement rely on direct evidence only; and maximize federal resources to boost pay for cops, improve training and review federal consent decrees.
Crime rocked the nation from coast-to-coast in 2020, as riots protesting the death of George Floyd broke out and activists demanded police departments be defunded, simultaneously to Americans abiding lockdown orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which upended daily life.
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Communities across the country witnessed a violent crime spike in 2020, with murders increasing by nearly 30% compared to the year prior, according to FBI data. It marked the largest single-year increase in killings since the agency began tracking the crimes.
Experts who spoke to Fox News Digital at the height of the 2020-era crime wave pointed to an array of variables that have likely contributed to the increases since 2020, including the pandemic; anti-police rhetoric voiced by Black Lives Matter and defund the police proponents; a culture of lawlessness promoted by liberal district attorneys; and the "Ferguson effect" – named after the high-profile Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, and referring to when police pull back from proactive patrolling when violent crimes spike.
Amid the pandemic and riots of 2020, left-wing cities moved to defund police departments as activists demanded an overhaul of the justice system, including installing community-based policing over employing officers, following the death of Floyd and other Black Americans in police custody.
Officers filed for early retirement, changed careers or moved to police jurisdictions that backed cops in the face of the anti-police rhetoric, while morale plummeted among the ranks and departments reported severe understaffing issues.
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The crime wave continued in the following years, as California faced repeated smash-and-grab robberies at swank department stores in 2022 and 2023; car thefts at the hands of youths and adults rocked cities such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia in 2022; and chain stores and mom-and-pop shops fled high-crime areas in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and elsewhere starting in 2021.
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Details on the upcoming executive order shared with Fox Digital took specific issues with local "soft-on-crime policies" that have sowed "chaos," such as sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, cities that "ignore shoplifting, vagrancy, and urban encampments," and recent bail reform initiatives that do not require suspects charged with crimes to post bail in order to leave jail while they await trial.
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The executive order instead will work to fulfill Trump's Make America Safe Again 2024 campaign promise, following other safety-focused executive actions such as securing the border and combating antisemitism that ran rampant on college campuses following the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel in October 2023, Fox Digital learned.
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"President Trump’s Executive Order empowers law enforcement to restore law and order," according to the White House. "Millions of Americans live in fear, worried that surging crime will destroy their lives, homes, or businesses."