President Joe Biden will host New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate and other city and law enforcement leaders from around the country Monday as he seeks answers to the country’s soaring crime rates.
The talks come just four days after Biden passed up the same opportunity when he was met by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) on the tarmac at O’Hare Airport ahead of a speaking appointment at an Illinois community college, as Breitbart News reported.
Eric Adams, Brooklyn borough president and the likely next mayor of New York, plus Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and San Jose, California, Mayor Sam Liccardo are expected to attend the meeting Monday, according to two people familiar with the plans.
They were not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, the news service reported.
Biden will also host Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis, Chief David Brown of Chicago and Lt. Anthony Lima of the Newark, New Jersey, police.
Shootings and killings are up around the nation, with local politicians and police struggling to manage the violence that has become a marked feature of so many Democrat-controlled cities.
In 12 American cities run by Democrats, the murder rate is skyrocketing, according to a study by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF). Nationally, the murder rate has hit a 26-year high.
As Breitbart News reported, the LELDF study sees a direct correlation between the Democrat party’s anti-police rhetoric and how Democrat-run cities have turned that rhetoric into action through police budget cuts, mandates that reduce policing efforts such as stops and arrests, a lack of criminal prosecution by far-left prosecutors, and the morale issues that have resulted in a massive number of retirements.
In some cities cities like Chicago, crime is close to an all time high with no sign of retreat.
The president recently announced new efforts to stem the tide of violence, but the federal government claims it is limited in what it can do to help localities reduce the spike.
Biden’s plan focuses on providing funding to cities that need more police, offering community support and cracking down on gun violence and supplying illegal firearms.
But much of Biden’s effort is voluntary — centered on encouraging cities to invest some of their coronavirus relief funds into policing and pushing alternative crime reduction steps such as increased community support and summer jobs for teenagers — often both targets and perpetrators of violence.
It also runs contrary to the Democrat Defund the Police Movement which has risen to prominence across the country.
Biden will be joined Monday by Attorney General Merrick Garland and other anti-violence experts to talk through the measures at their disposal including new strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.
A federal effort is underway to expand and enhance community violence interruption programs in 15 cities.
The Associated Press contributed to this story