Did the Trump Administration Eliminate Funding for Community Policing?

Joe Biden overstates budget cuts proposed by President Trump and ignores new sources of federal funding for law enforcement.

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Last Thursday night Joe Biden participated in a town hall in Philadelphia, where he answered questions from an audience and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

At one point, Stephanopoulos asked Biden about the 1994 crime bill, or the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a bill primarily co-sponsored by Biden during his time as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was supposed to address rising crime with policing measures and increased incarceration. 

The 1994 bill also established the Office of Community Oriented Police Services, otherwise known as the COPS Office, which according to the Justice Department, was created to “assist law enforcement agencies in enhancing public safety through the implementation of community policing strategies.”

During Thursday’s event, Biden claimed that the Trump administration had zeroed out funding for community policing: “they eliminated the funding for community policing.” The claim is not accurate. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Fact checks yay!

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  2. Avatar photo
    CynthiaW

    The truth, in fact, is the opposite of what was claimed: the funding increased in the last couple of years.

    This situation is an example of politicians' and the media's treating "budget proposals" as if they were the same as "actual funding." It is how your local school district can claim, "The budget has been cut to the bone!" even though spending is going up.

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  3. JayG

    Overstating budget cuts is true, but funding specifically for community policing, not the other stuff mentioned, did go down and Trump would have cut it by even more if he'd had his way.

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    1. Bob the Original

      Bottom line tho...Biden lied

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      1. Avatar photo
        cheerio

        The article claims he said that the monies were eliminated instead of getting severe cuts for Community Policing. I would like to know which 579 police depts got the grants (like have a list of them).

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          cheerio

          Excuse me... 596 police depts. --where were they/which towns and cities/states?

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  4. Mary Stine

    I always appreciate TD's fact checks. I do have one question about this: Is the grant a one-off
    thing as grants usually are?

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    1. Avatar photo
      Dick Robinson

      Which grant?

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      1. Mary Stine

        the DoJ COPS grant for $400 million mentioned near the end of this piece.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Dick Robinson

    Finally a fact check of Biden.

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    1. Mary Stine

      Glad to see you are still with us, Dick. How is the Covid situation where you are?

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      1. Avatar photo
        Dick Robinson

        The country is slowly opening up, fewer cases here in jungle, but we’re still not able to get flights to U.S. so will miss family, donors, churches and medicals. Probably back stateside for a month next Spring. My wife lost five age-mates to COVID, 53 yr old brother and four cousins.

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        1. Bob the Original

          So sorry!!!

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          1. Avatar photo
            Dick Robinson

            Thank you.

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        2. Mary Stine

          Ohhh, I am so sorry for your wife's loss. I can't imagine losing my only brother, who's about the same age, and four cousins! We are stranded in Texas, as itis pretty risky to attempt a 13 hour drive across the states with rising Covid levels.
          May you and your wife and community there continue to be healthy.

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