Washington D.C. – It’s an election year and right on schedule, politicians are lying to you. Today, President Biden addressed ‘Moms In Action’, a gun control group. In touting the two year anniversary of passing the Safety Communities Act, he said that violent crime was at a 50 year low.
The lie isn’t new. A few months ago, the White House put it in writing, issuing the below press release.
Americans are safer from violent crime today than a year ago. Today, an independent organization of police chiefs from the nation’s largest cities released data showing that, compared to a year earlier, violent crime declined across every category in the first quarter of 2024 and murders are down 17%. These decreases build on substantial decreases in previous years. After the prior Administration oversaw the largest one-year increase in murders ever recorded, violent crime is at a near fifty-year low. This crime reduction is not an accident. It’s the result of extraordinary efforts from law enforcement and community leaders. It’s also the result of historic steps by my Administration to stop the flow of illegal guns and make the largest-ever federal investment in fighting and preventing crime because of my American Rescue Plan.
Playing With The Data
Biden is using the crime data from his own FBI to tout the lie and almost half of the crime is not being reported. In 2019, 89% of municipal police departments, consisting of 97% of the population, submitted crime data to the FBI but by 2021, the population represented in the crime data had dropped to 65% when just 63% of the agencies reported their crime. It hasn’t improved much since and in 2023, cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City did not submit their crime data.
Do you think that may affect the national crime stats just a little….
It should be no surprise that the worse offenders are not exactly coming from safe states. New Jersey reported crime from just 177 of their 578 agencies and Pennsylvania only reported crime from 40 of the 1504 agencies while just half of California reported crime.
But don’t worry. The FBI has a 100% compliance from the mean streets of Connecticut and Delaware.
Apples To Oranges
We may never know the sleight of hand coming from the agencies that did report the data. Reports have surfaced for years of agencies purposely downgrading violent crimes to misdemeanors and the pressure to do so has only increased in recent years.
The reality is exactly what you know. Crime is not down. While our leaders tout the great job they are doing in reducing crime, the Major City Chiefs Association showed a significant increase in crime while the National Crime Victimization Survey showed a 30% rise in robbery (25% of all violent crime) while the FBI claimed it was reduced by 18%.
Excuses
It may not be a coincidence that the wheel broke in 2021. Coming off the most violent year America has ever seen, the FBI changed how they accepted crime data (NIBRS) and Americans went from knowing the crime levels to not having a clue. At the same time, many law enforcement leaders and politicians at the highest level used this broken system to brag how crime is down.
The Big Lie
No one believes that violent crime is down because they have eyes and President Biden looking you in the eye and lying about crime is insulting.
