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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will focus on crime rates in the U.S. on Wednesday, as he meets with police chiefs from cities that have seen declines in homicides after sharp spikes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House said.
The Democratic president is due to deliver remarks and meet with top police officials from cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, Detroit, Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee, Charlotte, North Carolina; and DeKalb County, Georgia.
In an election-year dart at Biden's Republican predecessor and likely rival in 2024, Donald Trump, the White House noted that the United States experienced the largest ever increase in murders in 2020, the start of the pandemic.
Violent crime rates dropped sharply last year, including a 12% decline in homicides nationally from 2022 to 2023, according to a crime analysis by AH Datalytics, after spiking during the first two years of the pandemic.
"The historic declines in crime mean that America is safer," the White House said in a statement outlining steps the Biden administration has taken on public safety.
They include funding effective and accountable policing, investing in intervention and prevention, and keeping especially dangerous guns off the streets, it said, citing more than $15 billion in investment from the American Rescue Plan legislation to help cities.
Detroit and Chicago both invested more than $100 million for public safety initiatives, including hiring new officers, expanding mental health community violence interventions and youth intervention programs. Chicago saw a 13% drop in homicides and Detroit saw an 18% drop in 2023, it said.
Philadelphia invested in group-violence intervention and community crisis intervention, the White House said, and experienced a 20% drop in homicides and a 28% decline in nonfatal shootings last year.
Violent crime also dropped in 2022, while property crimes rose, the latest FBI statistics show. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter decreased by 6.1% and rape by 5.4%, while larceny and motor vehicle theft rose by 7.8% and 10.9%, respectively, the agency said in its national crime report released in October.
The administration also highlighted gun violence initiatives but said Biden continues to urge Congress to improve gun safety laws.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
