U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a black law enforcement group meeting in Atlanta that reducing rising crime rates is a top priority of the Trump administration.
“We have your back,” Sessions said Tuesday in his speech to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. “We’re in this together.”
Sessions emphasized a return to tough law-and-order policies that, critics say, were undercut by the Obama Administration.
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The attorney general has been on thin ice with his boss, President Donald Trump, who has been openly critical of the former Alabama senator’s decision to recuse himself from investigations into suspected Russian tampering in the 2016 election.
On Tuesday, he referenced Trump, but not the controversy.
“The president can be very direct,” Sessions said. “Your job, Sessions, is to reduce crime in America and not let it go up.
Sessions said preliminary data suggests the murder rate continues to go up in 2017. Drug deaths are also on the rise, he said.
“We’ve never seen anything quite like this,” he said.
Sessions is popular with law enforcement groups who appreciate his traditional, get-tough approach. But his confirmation was opposed by many civil rights organizations critical of his track record on issues important to minorities.
Police, he said, are “in harm’s way more than ever and often get the blame you don’t deserve.”
Full coverage of Sessions’ speech will be posted on myajc.com later this afternoon.
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