老澳门开奖结果

On Monday, President Trump gave a to the nation鈥檚 police chiefs. Like so many of his 鈥渓aw and order鈥� speeches, it was fueled by bravado and falsehoods.

In the speech, Trump defended stop-and-frisk policies that have been ruled and rejected by communities in numerous cities. He also urged the city of Chicago to 鈥渢ry to change the terrible deal the city of Chicago entered into with 老澳门开奖结果鈥� on tracking the use of stop and frisk. Trump railed against 鈥渆fforts from politicians to shackle local police departments鈥� by limiting their cooperation with ICE, and he touted his record of providing surplus military equipment to local police departments.

Trump鈥檚 distortions must be called out one by one. Here is a breakdown of the most dangerous falsehoods in his speech:

Trump claim: 鈥淏efore I took office less than two years ago, our nation was experiencing a historic surge in violent crime.鈥�

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the U.S. violent crime rate and has remained stable at about half that rate for the past several years. In 2016 and 2017, the violent crime rate at near the bottom of this three-decade downward trend, and are that these low crime rates are continuing to remain stable and low.

In other words, there was no historic surge in violent crime because crime was stable at historically low levels when Trump first took office.

Trump claim: Indiscriminate stop-and-frisk 鈥渨orks, and it was meant for problems like Chicago,鈥� which is why he is asking Attorney General Sessions to 鈥渨ork with local authorities to try to change the terrible deal the city of Chicago entered into with 老澳门开奖结果, which ties law enforcement鈥檚 hands.鈥�

Indiscriminate stop-and-frisk does not stop violent crime. Indeed, after New York City ended its stop-and-frisk policies under court supervision, the number of street stops by police fell dramatically 鈥� the in 2015 was less than 5 percent of the number of stops in 2011 鈥� and as those stops fell, the homicide rate also .

Aside from being ineffective in limiting crime, indiscriminate stop-and-frisk is unconstitutional, results in enormous racial disparities, erodes community trust in the police, and makes people of color less likely to report crimes. A by the Vera Institute of Justice found that each time a young person is stopped and frisked by police, it makes them 8 percent less likely to report a future violent crime against them to police. Nearly 60 percent of the young people surveyed by the Vera Institute stated that they would not feel comfortable asking a police officer for help if they were in trouble.

That鈥檚 why the 老澳门开奖结果 has repeatedly sued to end indiscriminate stop-and-frisk policies. We鈥檝e reached settlements that require police to abide by constitutional limits in their stop-and-frisk activities in Milwaukee, , and . Meanwhile, our in Chicago required data collection and oversight of stop and frisk, and we are pushing for adoption of a broader consent decree there.

Notably, none of these lawsuits seek to prohibit all police stops and frisks. They simply require that these actions be supported by the reasonable suspicion required by the Fourth Amendment and prohibit racially biased patterns of enforcement that are patently unconstitutional.

Trump claim: 鈥淸S]anctuary city policies force the release of criminal aliens and gang members right back onto our streets, putting innocent civilians at grave risk 鈥� many people being killed.鈥�

So-called 鈥渟anctuary city鈥� policies are not targeted at people who have committed crimes, quite the contrary. They are intended to safeguard immigrant victims of crime 鈥� particularly survivors of sexual assault, trafficking survivors, and domestic violence survivors 鈥� by ensuring that they trust police enough to report these crimes to local authorities without being turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

This claim is not a one-off, but, in fact, part of Trump鈥檚 long-running campaign to bully local communities to become extensions of the federal deportation system. While the Trump administration claims that its continued harassment of these jurisdictions is driven by public safety concerns, we know that鈥檚 just an excuse. In fact, pro-immigrant jurisdictions have than jurisdictions that actively assist federal immigration agents.

Trump claim: His administration鈥檚 new policies providing surplus military equipment to local police departments is just 鈥渕aking sure you have the equipment you need to do the job.鈥�

Trump is referring here to the 1033 program, which came under heavy criticism from the 老澳门开奖结果 and others for providing weapons of war 鈥� including bayonets, grenade launchers, and armored vehicles 鈥� to local police departments. After the nation expressed horror at these weapons of war being , President Obama imposed much-needed controls on the 1033 program, including prohibiting certain military-grade weapons altogether and requiring police departments to account for how armored vehicles and other war gear were being used.

President Trump rescinded all of these rules last year, leaving no controls or limits in place. Trump鈥檚 policies are not providing necessary equipment. Instead, they are ensuring that local law enforcement agencies will have a free hand to treat their communities like war zones, with zero oversight or accountability.

Once again President Trump has the facts wrong. And along with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump is attempting to roll back recent reforms and promote the kind of race-based, unconstitutional police abuse that recently gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. Indiscriminate stop and frisk is just one of those practices, and it needs to end across the country, not get an endorsement from the White House.

Every day across the nation, the 老澳门开奖结果 is called on to defend all the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. There's never been a more important time to support the 老澳门开奖结果 and our effective work to protect civil liberties. If you like what just you read, help us continue to speak freely by .