Remarks as prepared for delivery
Good morning. I am deeply honored
to be here with you all today — the selfless and courageous men and women of
law enforcement. Thank you for all you do to keep us safe.
My thanks also to our acting U.S.
Attorney here in Memphis, Larry Laurenzi, for his hospitality and his
leadership. Your forward-leaning approach in the fight against violent crime
has not gone unrecognized and is commendable.
As you have experienced right
here in Memphis, violent crime is on the rise in America. The murder rate has
surged 10 percent nationwide — the largest increase since 1968. Last year, this
city experienced a 43 percent increase in homicides and ended up with the
highest number of murders ever.
But these aren’t just numbers or
statistics. These are people. We are talking about our fellow Americans, whose
safety and lives are at stake. They are people like the residents of the
Sycamore Lake Apartments, in northeast Memphis.
Last week, two men were shot and
killed there during a drug deal, according to local detectives. Tragically,
this is no longer uncommon; since 2014, seven people, including a soon-to-be
mother and her unborn baby, were murdered just in that apartment complex.
I would ask each of us to
imagine, for a moment, what life is like for the law-abiding citizens in that
community. Imagine what it does to good people and families that must live
every day as hostages in their own homes, facing potentially deadly violence
just to walk to the bus, or avoiding certain gang-controlled territory just to
get to work.
I hope many of you have already
seen the video of Jeffrey Laney. He’s a 6-year-old boy not too far from here in
St. Louis. His teenage cousin was shot and killed last month. So he posted a
video asking for the violence to end. He said, “I’m really scared to die. I’m a
kid. I’m not supposed to be knowing about all these guns. I know all about bad
stuff I shouldn’t know about. I’m supposed to be learning about school.” He’s 6
years old.
This is happening in the United
States of America — and we will not stand for it.
Every one of our citizens, no
matter who they are or where they live, has the right to be safe in their homes
and communities from the scourge of criminal gangs, rapists, carjackers, and
drug dealers.
We must act to reverse this surge
in violent crime and keep our country and every single community safe. Under
President Trump’s direction, this Department of Justice is committed to doing
its part.
First, I have directed our
federal prosecutors to work closely with all of you — our federal, state, and
local law enforcement partners. Together, we are going to use every lawful tool
we have to take the most violent offenders off our streets. This is just common
sense. There are not that many people capable of murdering another human being.
The more of them we prosecute, convict, and put in prison, the fewer murders we
will have. And with the extra resources in the President’s new budget, we will
hire 230 more Assistant United States Attorneys nationwide, to bolster our
efforts to fight violent crime.
You all are already carrying out
this mission by aggressively investigating and prosecuting Gangster Disciple
members, felons in possession of firearms, and armed robbers. I want to
specifically call attention to your prosecution of Patrick Owens, who committed
an armed robbery of the Bartlett Prescription Shop and is now serving 262
months in federal prison for Hobbs Act robbery and using a firearm during a
crime of violence.
You commit robbery, use a gun,
and threaten employees — there should be severe consequences. Well done!
Second: Earlier this month, we
established a new charging and sentencing policy for the Department of Justice.
I have empowered our federal prosecutors to once again charge and pursue the
most serious, readily provable offense in each case. This means we are going to
meet our responsibility to advance public safety and enforce the laws with
judgment and fairness.
This is the not only the right
thing to do, it is what the law requires.
This change in charging and
sentencing is especially needed to address some of the factors driving the
increase in violent crime — including the epidemic of opioid and heroin abuse
in our country.
Today, heroin is easier to find,
cheaper, and stronger than ever. You are seeing the results firsthand in
Memphis and Shelby County, where heroin-related deaths have skyrocketed by
nearly 800 percent in just five years. The country has never seen such deaths
from overdoses before.
We know that drugs and crime go
hand-in-hand. Drug trafficking is an inherently violent business. If you want
to collect a drug debt, you can’t file a lawsuit in court. You collect it by
the barrel of a gun.
Unfortunately, even as violent
crime has surged and overdose deaths have spiked, federal gun and drug prosecutions
have fallen recent years. We will reverse that trend. This new charging and
sentencing policy is a return to the enforcement of the laws as passed by
Congress — plain and simple.
If you are a drug trafficker, we
will not look the other way and be willfully blind to your conduct.
It’s important to remember that
we are not talking about low-level offenders or recreational drug users here.
These are criminals arrested with a kilogram of heroin — that is 10,000 doses —
or five kilograms of cocaine, or 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. They are drug
dealers who profit by selling poison to our fellow Americans.
Under this Department of Justice,
they are going to prison.
To turn back the rising tide of
violent crime and confront America’s opioid crisis, we must also secure our
border. Most of the heroin, fentanyl, and other drugs that kill our fellow
citizens and drive so much violent crime enter America through our porous
southern border.
Under President Trump’s
leadership, our nation is finally getting serious about securing our border.
And we are seeing results, with illegal border crossings falling to their
lowest monthly figure in at least 17 years.
In addition, I have directed our
federal prosecutors to make criminal immigration enforcement a priority, and to
appoint a Border Security Coordinator in each of their offices.
We are going to dismantle the
transnational cartels and drug traffickers and gangs that bring violence and
death to our communities.
If you are a gang member, know
this: You think you are targeting us. Well, we are targeting you. We will find
you. We will devastate your networks. We will starve your revenue sources,
deplete your ranks and seize your profits. We will not concede a single block
or street corner to you.
The thousands of excellent
federal law enforcement officers who are at the front lines of this fight play
a critical role. But, the key forces in the steady reduction in crime that had
been occurring until the last few years are our state and local officers.
You make up about 85 percent of
all law enforcement personnel in our country, and you are on the front lines of
the battle to keep us safe. Improved training, community-based policing,
proactive policing, and concepts like “broken windows” have proven their worth.
We know they work.
You have my word: this Department
of Justice will strengthen its partnerships with you. We will encourage the
proactive policing that prevents crime. We will have the back of all honest and
honorable law enforcement officers and prosecutors. And we will stand firm
against wrongdoing, abuse or civil rights violations by police.
Finally, while good law
enforcement is essential, something more is required.
We need people of goodwill to
take on the problems and heal the wounds that are beyond the long arm of the
law — the wounds of despair and addiction; of broken homes and missing fathers.
I look forward to meeting later today with religious leaders from the Memphis
area who are doing this kind of good work.
But for that work to succeed, for
those good seeds to grow, they can’t fall on the rocky soil of neighborhoods
suffering from violence and chaos. To grow, they need the fertile soil of safe
streets and cities — places where law-abiding citizens can live without fear.
Providing those safe places,
where life can grow and thrive, is the calling all of us who work in law
enforcement. And that is what we will do, so all Americans can enjoy the
blessings of safety and justice.
Thank you all for choosing to do
this noble work. And know this….We have your back, and you have our thanks.
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