Silke Jasso
In a speech in Philadelphia on Thursday, President Donald Trump alleged that the murder rate is going up in cities across America, including the one he was visiting.
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“Right now, too many families don’t feel secure,” Trump said. “Just look at the 30 largest cities. In the last year alone, the murder rate has increased by an estimated 14 percent. Here in Philadelphia, the murder rate has been steadily, I mean just terribly increasing.”
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According to the mayor of Philadelphia, that’s just not true.
“President Trump’s false statements today were an insult to the men and women of the Philadelphia police force — the very same men and women who are working long hours today to ensure his safety,” Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement. “Our police officers have worked tirelessly and with great personal sacrifice to get Philadelphia’s crime rate down to its lowest point in forty years, while also successfully implementing reforms to strengthen police-community relations and uphold the rights of all our residents.”
According to Kenney, Philadelphia’s homicide rate is decreasing, and the city is doing everything it can to reduce the numbers of crimes involving guns.
Kenney then took a shot at Republican lawmakers on that issue: “We are handicapped by Republican refusal to enact any kind of common sense gun control and by their obsession with turning our police officers into ICE agents – which will prevent immigrants from coming forward to report crimes or provide critical witnesses statements that can put dangerous criminals behind bars.”
