President Donald Trump has kept his promise to lower crime, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote Tuesday in an op-ed for USA Today.
"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," Sessions wrote following preliminary data released by the FBI showing a plunge in violent and property crime rates in the first half of 2017.
"We have placed trust in our prosecutors again, and we're restoring respect for law enforcement. We have invested in new resources and put in place smarter policies based on sound research. Ensuring every neighborhood in America is safe again will take time, but we are already starting to see results."
Sessions pointed to FBI data showing a decrease in violent crimes, and said the Justice Department in 2017 brought cases against more violent criminals than in any year in decades.
"We charged the most federal firearm prosecutions in a decade. We convicted nearly 500 human traffickers and 1,200 gang members, and helped our international allies arrest about 4,000 MS-13 members. We also arrested and charged hundreds of people suspected with contributing to the ongoing opioid crisis," he wrote.
Trump in his inauguration speech promised to end "American carnage," and Sessions said he's doing just that.
"Crime rates are not like the tides — we can help change them. And under Trump's strong leadership, we will," he said.
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