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According to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the police aren’t to blame for their lack of effectiveness. Rather, it’s all the fault of disrespectful citizens in underserved communities.
At least, that’s what President Donald Trump’s appointee told the National Association of Attorneys General in an address Tuesday, Feb. 28. He pointed the finger squarely at people who live in cities ravaged by violence for the failure of local authorities to do their jobs.
“One of the big things out there that’s, I think, causing trouble and where you see the greatest increase in violence and murders in cities is somehow, someway, we undermined the respect for our police and made, oftentimes, their job more difficult,” says Sessions, who called Trump’s order to reduce crime a “pretty good goal.” “It’s not been well-received by them, and we’re not seeing the kind of effective, community-based, street-based policing that we found to be so effective in reducing crime.”
He went on to say the justice system will prosecute police officers who violate the law just as it would for citizens who do the same.
“But we need … to help police departments get better, not diminish their effectiveness,” Sessions says. “And I’m afraid we’ve done some of that. So, we’re going to try to pull back on this, and I don’t think it’s wrong or mean or insensitive to civil rights or human rights. I think it’s out of a concern to make the lives of people — in particular, the poor communities, minority communities — live a safer, happier life.”
