State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Trump Administration Ends Police-Reform Push in Favor of Tough-on-Crime Policies

Governing: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it will overhaul a six-year-old Obama-era program that had been put in place in the wake of police shootings and other controversial officer incidents.

In a statement released Sept. 15, the DOJ said it would significantly scale back its Collaborative Reform Initiative, effectively putting an end to federal efforts to reform local police departments and improve police-community relations. Instead, the Justice Department will focus on providing more direct support to officers fighting gangs, drugs and violent crime as well as those dealing with protests.

The move is in line with a tougher law-and-order approach that President Donald Trump advocated during his campaign and in his first several months in office. Despite Trump's claim that violent crime is at near record highs, it remains near historic lows.

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