On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) stated that President Donald Trump deserves some credit for the decrease in crime in Memphis because having more federal law enforcement there helped because the city has a shortage of police officers, but crime was falling prior to the federal surge.
Co-host Sara Sidner asked, “Trump is taking some credit for bringing down the crime in a district that you’re well familiar with there in Memphis. Do you give him some credit for that?”
Cohen responded, “Give him a little bit of credit. We need more policemen. We’re about a thousand short in our police force. So, having additional FBI agents, having additional DEA agents, having additional [ATF] people, there are other federal law enforcement groups that have been — had to increase their enrollment here in Memphis, they have helped. But the crime was going down already before the Safe Task Force started in September. It had gone down about 25 or 30% with the work of Mayor Young and police director Chief Davis. And it’s gone down around the country, and around the world. I saw Mexico City’s homicide rate was down 20%. Trump throws out figures. He threw out a figure the last time he talked about this and said crime was down 70% in Memphis. Well, it’s better. Memphis is a great city. And everybody ought to come down and visit. Memphis in May is coming up, and Memphis is a great city to visit. But it’s not down 70%.”
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