Donald Trump and Kamala Harris' attitudes toward the police

Washington — Crime is a focus of former President Donald Trump's bid for the White House, and he and Vice President Kamala Harris have both worked to take on the role of toughest candidate.

Violent and property crime fell overall last year, and the drop in the murder rate from 2022 to 2023 represents the largest drop in the past two decades, according to data from more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies released by the FBI in September.

But that hasn't stopped Trump from claiming that U.S. cities are in decline and violence is widespread. Harris, meanwhile, has highlighted her experience as a former prosecutor in California and the state's attorney general to show voters that she has experience dealing with violent criminals.

Trump presents himself as a “law and order” candidate

The Republican presidential candidate repeatedly presents himself as a “law and order” candidate and demands during the election campaign that police officers have the right to “immunity from prosecution.”

Trump unveiled his “Plan to Restore Law and Order” in February 2023, which he said includes a “record investment in recruiting, retaining and training” police officers across the country and strengthening liability protections for law enforcement. The former president said he would make Justice Department grants and federal funding conditional on local law enforcement using “stop and frisk” and other tactics.

He also promised to deploy “federal resources” such as the National Guard to restore “law and order” in cities.

Police compensation

In recent months, Trump has stepped up his pledges to protect law enforcement, declaring during a telerally in June that his administration would compensate police officers.

A 2014 study of compensation practices in 44 of the nation's largest law enforcement agencies and 37 small and medium-sized agencies found that police are almost always compensated, meaning they are not held financially responsible for settlements and verdicts in misconduct cases. The study by UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz found that between 2006 and 2011, governments paid about 99.98% of the money recovered by plaintiffs in lawsuits accusing police of civil rights violations.

During a September speech in which he accepted endorsements from the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest organization of law enforcement officers, Trump called for giving “power and respect” back to police and suggested that law enforcement's response was “a tough hour.” “ would curb the issue of crime.

“A hard hour, and I mean really hard, the news will spread and it will end immediately,” he told a crowd in Erie, Pennsylvania, last month.

Federal law enforcement and migrants

Trump has repeatedly used federal law enforcement resources to crack down on migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. During a speech in July 2023, he called for shifting “large parts of the existing federal law enforcement apparatus” – parts of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations – to focus on immigration to concentrate.

Trump says he would pardon January 6 defendants

While Trump has portrayed himself as a pro-law enforcement candidate, he has said he would pardon defendants who were convicted or pleaded guilty for their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Republican presidential candidate claimed they were “convicted by a very harsh system” and called the Jan. 6 rioters “hostages” and “political prisoners.”

Almost 150 police officers were injured on January 6th Protesters wore Guns, stun guns, flagpoles, bear spray and tomahawk axes.

In April 2023, he also called on Republicans in Congress to defund the Justice Department and the FBI after he takes office Charged with 34 felonies of falsifying business documents in New York. The former president was found guilty on all counts by a jury in May.

Harris is focusing on experience as a prosecutor

Harris has played up her experience A former prosecutor, she highlights her work fighting violent criminals, drug traffickers and banks for their mortgage foreclosure practices. She has also tried to distinguish between her background in law enforcement and Trump, who was convicted in May and faces federal charges in two separate cases. He has pleaded not guilty.

“I have taken on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women; fraudsters who defrauded consumers; Fraudsters who broke the rules for their own gain,” she said at a campaign rally in Atlanta in July. “So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type.”

While serving as district attorney in San Francisco, Harris led a law enforcement training program on procedural justice and implicit bias that aimed to increase trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

On police misconduct, qualified immunity, defunding the police

During her time representing California in the Senate, she co-sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aimed to address police misconduct as a result of Floyd's death in May 2020. The measure would, among other things, limit the use of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields law enforcement officers from liability, ban no-knock warrants in drug cases and chokeholds and require federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras.

As vice president, Harris has repeatedly called on Congress to pass the measure.

Furthermore, the administration, while serving alongside President Biden, did this enacted the American Rescue Planwhich including financing for public safety and the retention and recruitment of police officers.

““The only presidential candidate who has ever advocated for defunding police or proposed cutting funding for law enforcement is convicted felon Donald Trump,” said Harris campaign spokesman James Singer. “Vice President Harris has spent years prosecuting criminals and ensuring justice for victims and has supported increased funding to protect our communities and hold convicted criminals like Trump accountable – which is why America is currently facing a nearly 50-year-old Annual low recorded for violent crime.”

After Floyd's death, the vice president called for “rethinking the way we ensure public safety in America” ​​and a conversation about “diverting resources” from policing to other government functions such as public education and social services lead.

But four years later, during a campaign stop in Las Vegas last month, Harris said that if elected, she would double the Justice Department's resources to crack down on transnational cartels and take action to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country.

After Harris was chosen as Mr. Biden's running mate in October 2020, his campaign said that neither Democrat supported defunding the police. Sabrina Singh, who was Harris' press secretary at the time, said she supported increased funding for police departments and community policing.