Biden was quick to point out that Trump “proposes cutting half a billion dollars out of local police forces.” He further added, “Look what the police need — first of all, there has to be national standards that in fact applies to every police department in the country. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Biden failed to give any specifics as to what Trump is exactly cutting. Presumably, Biden is referring to the COPS program which provides critical funding to hire more law enforcement professionals in local communities.
While Biden’s source of information unclear, this issue was brought up previously in a recent Vox article that claims the Trump Administration proposed to cut the COPS program by 58% in February of this year.
The article provides a link to Twitter where the claim was supposedly made, but the link itself takes the reader to a blank page.
A recent press release from the Department of Justice points to evidence contrary to Biden’s claims. Rather than defund the COPS program, DOJ is providing $400 million in grants to the COPS program. The grants follow a previous round of funding to the tune of $51 million as part of Operation Relentless Pursuit, which began in May 2020.
