he served in the trump administration also a senior fellow with the senior organization right on crime. the topic is violent crime can restart with your background particularly with the administration and the things you have done. guest: my background is growing up in low income communities and experiencing firsthand. i also spent four years in the trump administration working on carpet revitalization and that included negotiating a law and helping the president think that are how we can reform police departments throughout the country to help and encourage them to have the right infrastructure they need to do their job. host: remind people what that is. guest: it's a bipartisan legislation that improved armor

federal prison system. it took focus away from just walking individuals up but looking at the person's individual criminology and seeing if we can assign incentives to keep them from going back to prison. it focused on public safety because it was reducing the time that people would come back to present by encouraging to become responsible citizens. also it rolls back walls around the three strike role, the discrepancy between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. essentially, supported by law enforcement as well as community groups and great bipartisan achievement. husk of what is right on crime? guest: in organization part of the policy foundation that focused on conservative

solutions and reform in our criminal justice system in a way that helps with public safety. so we took a nuanced approach at the state level as well as federal. host: you talked about solutions but before we talk about some of those propose visions what you think are the root causes? guest: thought of different things that are happening throughout america. some of those because you have a number of individuals who have grown up with a lot of different trauma. police officers are kind of dealing with the thought issues outside of five that crime and i am sure have to ink the pandemic and individuals being indoors and a lot of children not participating in school has contributed to the increase of five current that we are looking at a 50 year increase we are not at the numbers in the early 90's when i grew up but certainly

almost like 40%. host: when it comes to those principles you are advocating for one of systems for if you have about apple they can't jump from one police department to another. having two diligence, that is to another. police is the infrastructure that is not necessarily tied for pulling people over for traffic stops or collecting fees. we want them to be able to focus on crime and violent crime in particular, it is also a rallying cry because if you can remember during 2020 the huge movement to defend the police almost 80% of most communities don't want police departments and including low income areas read almost 70% of them want

police departments. it's going to take some funding there so we think it should be appropriated funded. host: do you have a sense how much a police department depends on those fines and fees? guest: it is substantial. it is a big weight of the making money. maybe some localities have cut their police but just as a result of defund the police movement. it is extremely important that localities fund departments fully and help them become a 21st-century police department. host: some arc complaining things like social worker mental health cases do you think there is a role for that is verifying

nine between the day-to-day fighting of crime to helping the larger issues of crime? host: -- guest: let's not play around with her but is because obviously public safety is at hand. that is what we are speaking to. it is very nuanced, very comprehensive. we realize there are solutions as a result of five that crime. funding so social aspects of it but i think you have to have buckets of funding to fund the police first and foremost. recruitment has been an issue for a number of years. retention of police officers is also an issue if you look at the mental health of some of these officers and what they don't with on a daily basis they make it really hard to have it both his show up in where they are needed most self-funded the policed is one of the most important aspects that we talk about. host: if you want to join us in asking questions (202) 748-8001

republicans. (202) 748-8000 democrats. independents (202) 748-8002 and you can text at (202) 748-8003. the secondhaving two to another. having two to another. having two to another. having two is standing for. not having such overdependence on fines and fees but a proper reading the proper resources for the police department. the second against having police focus on crime prevention. too many times police officers spent most of their times focusing on traffic tickets. focusing on mental health for individuals or even homelessness

which is why we want to mayb sys for if you have about apple they can't jump from one police department to another. having two diligence, that is we also want to create systems for if you have about apple they can't jump from one police department to another. having two diligence, that is leaders and curbing the violence in their on communities. providing other social services, you know, looking at ways that we can convene the community and build the trust within the community. all of these things are very to solve for violence in communities. small long-term policies, that would be like the first step back. legislation that focuses on

other things. we can salt -- so fun that comes in the country. we have things we are doing. places like boston, these are areas where crime has gone down in the same. that five and crime has risen across other places in the country. people like my old colleague alex johnson who was freed under the trump administration or folks like the american conservatives union. individuals like rate on crime are all focused on curbing the violence and police leaders. we are confidently trying to expand the compilation and also expended on the grassroot level so we can have a great coalition of individuals on the top on the bottom that are changing their

communities. host: who is financially backing you? esco we have a lot of individuals who are looking to invest in this. there is no one particular group behind it but i would say like organizations like stand together, metro prosperity have been great leaders. host: our first call is from nathan. go ahead. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i am a firm believer that parenting plays a huge part starts at the beginning and assess the basis of what happens to the person. i would like to hear what adjustments has to say about that. guest: thank you so much for your question. i think you are entirely right but however not everyone is allowed, or had families to defendant -- depend on. if you look at the foster care system there is a direct

correlation to individuals in the prison system. so yes having a family is a very important thing and having an upbringing but i think as a community we need to build infrastructure on following those who may have lost a parent to death or are may be struggling with addiction or parents that may have been to present the huge coalition -- correlation we need to think differently on how we are creating community so less children fall through the cracks. host: the idea of creating a community does that fall within the four principles? guest: when you look at evidence-based policy and community leaders that is some of the nuanced approaches that convert -- if you have more kids and its core programs or summer programs that also shows two

curve five vets. it is one of our principles. host: florida, independent line, frank hello. caller: hello. i saw firsthand were a police department -- with our police department was like and i found out you're not going to confront of racist there grew up with that in his life, although of his life because if you become a policeman he is not going to change. the idea is not to make a racist a better person once he is a policeman the idea is not to hire them to begin with. you're not going to confront of racist. that was pushed on them from family values.

and you are not going to change somebody you just to get them out of there and not even hire them to the can with. host: thank you, color. guest: i can see where you are coming from i think the issue we are focusing on is the rise in violent crime. i think regardless of what permission -- profession you weren't you will have people from different backgrounds. i in a culture of love and shredded each people the human aspect that we all share in how we can bring our different background together to find some common ground and how we can live peacefully her in society. in a time of racist ideology. as far as the police departments themselves how do you think they do have policing bed apple so they don't cause problems?

host: no one hates of that cop authentic good cop. most bullies departments are looking to weed out bad apples but that is why it is important that we have funding for proper training. we also want to create systems for if you have about apple they can't jump from one police department to another. having two diligence, that is what one police departments are saying. that is a view out there and i think that's where we can find common ground with people on both sides. host: the oversight police department for departments that have issues. guest: i think there is stuff that can be leveraged. i think both butch trump and biden administration view executive orders to figure out a way that we can deal with four cups with four backgrounds. i think that could be a leverage

of infrastructure to kind of now. host: let's go to samuel in california. on the independent light, go ahead please. caller: yes, said we need a new district attorney here district attorney's are backed by george soros. this man is terrible he has heard the police department and he has heard a lot of people and we need time to build laws and everything. for indeed the top down or the bottle up to get rid of these people and the people in their that are very serious about cleaning up this problem with the police and everything just like charles barkley said i like to travel around the united states and travel around the world and i keep my family at home and i want them protected by the police. we need more police. and we also need a new president, thank you.

guest: thank you so much for your question, sir and i think that is why our principal around evidence-based policy is extremely important. we don't want legislators that just make decisions about policy change in their locality without choosing evidence and has protected. so looking at what worked around the turn boston is going to be extremely important because many times believe it or not violent crime is in a small part of any locality and we know for the final background is coming from. being able to have resources immobilize -- and mobilize police officers's is important you need police officers to do that. you also want to be able to build relationships with that community because they can tell

you about crime before it happens. that is maybe what you are saying in your locality and what we are saying is like the evidence-based solutions focused on ways to reduce private crime and we should follow that more closely probably in a vacuum are making policy just because they make good political sense. host: president biden introduced up plan of his own to higher and to train 100,000 police officers over the course of five years. $15 billion for accelerating just in -- justice system reform bill. what you think about those ideas coming from this administration? guest: i think there is a lot of things in common with the trump administration as it relates to funding police and creating training and bringing the police

and the community together. those aspects, i can agree with. host: what aspects with and to agree with? guest: i'm not really sure i mean i think background checks are good but we have to be careful in how we do african policy because you don't want to penalize lawful gun owners as well because most people who own guns are abiding by the law but you want to protect our individuals who have mental health issues. host: i want to show you a little bet from the president in june. the president made a case for and is a little bit i want you to listen to it and then respond to it. pres. biden: we provide ever service members the most lethal weapons on earth to present -- protect america we also require them to receive significant training before they are allowed to use these buffets we require

mental health assessments and extended background checks on them we make sure they know how to lock up and store the weapons responsibly. to do all that these are commonsense requirements. we all require the same commonsense measures. makes no sense. assault weapons need to be banned. they were banned. i led the play in 1994. in that 10 years it was lost, mass shootings went down. the law expired in 2004 and they are allowed to be sold again. mass shootings tripled. i am determined to be in these weapons again. 30 rounds.

[applause] i'm not going to stop until we do it. we should have soft -- safe storage laws. personal liability for not locking up your guns. this scene -- the shooter at sandy hook came from a home fold with assault weapons. the weapons he used to kill his mother and then killed 20 in the set first-graders if you have a weapon you have a responsibility to secure it and keep it under lock and key. host: case made by the president, what do you think? guest: one thing i think of is that what makes the individual commits some of these crimes in the first place? i think that is the real underlying issue the so many individuals have stepped up and started committing these crimes

in the first place of what is going on in our society? what can we do around mental health? i talked earlier about crime prevention and individuals growing up with trauma, trauma throughout the country has been on the rise and we haven't done enough about investigating that. i think regardless of how they commit the crimes these will find a way to commit these crimes if you look at how many crimes were committed by a hammer or a knife. my thing is i don't want any of these crimes to happen in the first place and i think we need to commit to more infrastructure around those pieces so we have less people to look to do harm to people. >> e we heard from kathy wisconsin, independent line, hello. >> thank you for this sweet conversation. in the early 2000's there was a

department of justice grant program and it sounds just exactly like what you are talking about was the evidence face? was it great? i worked at the committee myself and these are the kinds of initiatives that actually correct community. we've responded -- sponsored churches and also one how much of the ending? can you speak to intergenerational program on the city's home and how awesome that is? thank you. guest: think you so much for your question i don't know any background on him that i can think generally should be able to work hand in close. when i worked in the white house i was on the architect and suing everybody but they looked at four buckets of funding state communities, economic

development, education and workforce, and high school there safer communities that have opportunities it leads to public safety. a lot of the federal programs that we have don't work together. they work -- it is hard to navigate and not to mention the dollars that go into communities. i.e. vegan and every -- infrastructure for new opportunities so we can advocate all these different programs and they make more sense to individuals on the local level it is just to me we are throwing a whole bunch of money out there but not really solving the issue for underserved communities. the number one think we need to solve in order to have economic development is to focus on

public safety first and that is why i am willing this campaign to bring right-center organizations together to advocate for these principals to solve for the crime. entrepreneurship and create thriving communities all throughout the country but let's be intentional about it. host: in alabama we will hear next from james. caller: i notice you are concentrating on one side of the issue but not concentrating on the other cited the issue. you are talking about violent crime on one side and not on the others. when you look at violent crime if you would go back to louisiana state patrol and look at mr. ronald greene's case you

see things from the other side also. i'm just wondering what you think about both sides. thank you. guest: just to be clear, i think pilots on either side is wrong. we want our police department to be fair and treat everyone with respect. i have been on both sides of these issues. i certainly have been profiled in my on personal life so i know how it feels as a black man in america to feel like someone is following you or you are doing something wrong but also low-income communities where i have seen violence happen and people want police. there is a way for verve we can bring our best and brightest that individuals like myself and every black american can feel safe in a matter what community they walked in from the poly side and the community side. that is an approach we are trying to bring forward with

these principles. also protecting public safety. host: what do you think of the term systematic racism? >> there are systems that have been in place for decades like if you look at redlining that created two different cities the black side and avoid side. some things like that are systemic but in our criminal justice system to me some parts of the system are more economic so if you look at low-income barriers you may have some increased crying -- crime. because they think they might be ups in crime or something like that. i don't like to take constructs. certainly our country has a history to deal with and we are trying to make that opportunity

now with ideas and solutions verda not just talking about the problem. host: so you think the problem that exists in police departments would you think? guest: what have police tend to recruit or from the neighborhoods they are policing? the trust is not there specifically in the black communities and sometimes the budget is not there for police to do the due diligence they need to do to invest in those communities. i think there is work that needs to be done. i wouldn't want to put a blinken approach on all police departments because they are all different. we have different -- 18,000 different police department throughout the country and some have done better than having diversity. host: what do you propose about police unions? he described it as police unions protecting bad cops. host: --

guest: i don't see it that way. after talking to some of the unions they are trying to create a better system. they are doing their best to protect their officers and protect communities. you have to understand the job of reacting in a violent situation is a very heroic job that not everyone signed up to do because let's be honest you don't get paid a lot of money to put your life on the line and risk it for someone else. i think that unions do a good job of trying to protect those individuals however they are also on the front lines to figure out how ways how we can talk reform. host: greg is in florida. caller: i have one thing about these assault weapons. i know they are not rely called assault weapons or semi

automatic but you were able to slip the clifford beckenham and shoot another 30 rounds and another 30 rounds. so you have those weapons on the street how come the police do not have a say in not having those. they have 400 police officers down at you faulty and there was one guy in there with one gun and there was 400 police officers but not one of them would take the chance to go when there and take him out because they are afraid of that weapon. they now body armor and shield will not stop that weapon. so why do they allow it? that's my question. guest: let me say that these tragic situations like the one in you faulty -- you faulty --uvalde because i have children of my own.

again, i go back to the individuals involved. what are we doing on crime prevention to stop these types of individuals from diwali -- developing and getting as far. they created a system in early warning system that helps flag some of these issues before it happens. i think we need to put a lot more investment into these early warning systems to figure out a way to work police officers to keep the community safe. host: alexis on the independent line. caller: there has been so many shootings with the ar-15. the pain and suffering these people have gone through for how many years now?

if you think we are not doing anything about it you talk about sandy promises that law or is that something developed in hopes of it becoming law? you kind of danced around background checks because this i don't know what the law says, the name of it is. but the background checks need to be solid. oscar thinks. guest: there is additional funding for early warning signs and the off promise for advocates for that. they have invested more money into early warning signs. i think background checks are important so i don't want to skirt around that. but i also want you to know that it is important that we look at other aspects around criminology and floyd individuals create

crime in the first place. investing into infrastructure around mental help and better infrastructure around youth so they don't grow up and commit some of these heinous acts. i think that is several issues in society and some are focused on evidence-based solutions related to five in crime. some solutions are very much about bringing the community together and creating infrastructure around children and individuals and having police officers focus their time on crime prevention and on solving these further crimes. host: you mentioned some communities doing this in dallas. in some cases how do you attribute these happenings at once? guest: we need to allow for these police officers to spend more time on solving violent crime and how they happen in the first place. it is almost more work that

needs to be done. that was an example if you are looking at carjacking or something that is going around in washington, d.c. or new orleans or the things happening in opposite ways. i had the opportunity to do a panel with anton lackey and then came out and try to reform his community by working with police officers to solve for further crime and it worked really well there. i think the team went to develop a closer relationship and it allows police to suffer violent crimes and murders and getting that crime done. host: how do you think technology has changed policing? traffic bus and other incidents, how do you think it has changed policing? guest: it has put accountability out there. i can tell you as an african-american sometimes when

you heard stories about policeman and community interaction people did not always believe what was happening. so it put some accountability out there. we are trying to prevent violent crime sometimes in the community people know who the violent people are but they are scared. maybe some people think that telling might put them in a bad place because there is no trust with the police. let's bring the police and community together and see these issues. dallas, miami they showed the way to do this is by creating the communal relationships and building trust with the police officers. host: jim in north carolina, hi. caller: thank you for taking my call. i ask if your guest can clarify the term police union you.

you have the police associations of but never a union. justice fine on your show on your show two days ago about the definition of a policing and can you clarify? guest: i think the definition is just most people think of a union for collective bargaining of rank-and-file. in this case we are talking about associations that rally behind all police officers and make sure there are basic rights and that officers are protected. house cut democratic line, darrell op in illinois hello. >> yes, how long. actually police associations bargain and once somebody goes out and is accused of misconduct they try to save his job they

did the same thing you just did with a different name. on the issue of childhood violence and economic deprivation and mental illness germany, italy, france, and canada have just as much mentally ill people and childhood trauma and economic issues and they don't have easy access to because that's what they don't have the mass shootings. anyone that doesn't acknowledge that is an idiot. guest: what i would say to that is they still have violent crime. i remember some of these countries they have masked stabbings as a result of individuals with those mental illness. i think we need to suffer these issues and think about new infrastructure for individuals and try to figure out a better way to prevent crime in the first place.

host: president biden in relation to the january 6 attack sent out a tweet and i want to get your response he said this, young fashion but i don't think that's letting a mom -- mob that attacks police officers prokop. what you think about that? to i was not expecting to speak to january 6 so much for to me it was the day my children were born. interesting time in our country but for me i have a healthy respect for law enforcement and as i said when i worked in the trump administration i believe in peaceful protest server there is january 6 or the protest during george floyd it'll has to be peaceful attacking law enforcement is not the way to do it. host: do you think it makes it harder for people to consider

going into police work? guest: certainly it does. police do a lot. they put their life on the line to protect people and i'm thankful for the capitol police. i know a lot of them. some of them are good friends of mine when january 6 happened the first thing i did was reach out to capitol police officers that i know to see if they work a. mental health is also a big thing. the trump administration we did a lot of work around police mental health and there was an executive order. one of the most important pieces of resources was for instruction infrastructure and mental health and retention of police officers. host: republican line illinois. caller: good morning. i am a retired first lieutenant with the police department. i am a city boy born and raised.

i survived one of the biggest come about us, toughest neighborhoods. i agree we need good screening, follow-up with training, that is most important for retention but right now the store is swinging like crazy. the city of chicago was so bad that the a lot of people don't even want to go visit. the mayor is just turning her head to the crime. there was over 400 not street gangs when i retired in 140,000. who knows what as far as rifles or concern? we do need to work together community policing does work and we should work together. i believe in crime prevention and in how to anticipate an issue and prevented. i will tell you that i took my lessons learned to vietnam.

that is what help me on the street. i have worn two uniforms one for my country and one for community. accused, mr. smith. guest: evidence-based policy that works in other countries can be used in other cities in chicago. beautiful city, i love chicago. allow for what the community years there but people know that there is alternatives for doing crime for those individuals that don't want to participate swiftly work with the community to remove those individuals and bring down the heavy front of the law on one of those entering the tools that has been away at has worked in boston it can work in other cities but i think we need to take that nuanced approach. i would love to kind of continue to work with those leaders to

solve violent crime. host: we have talked about prince of all. where do you think the -- host: -- guest: that is a lot of really good ideas under each bucket what we would like to do is kind of convene was some of these leaders because chicago, different than cleveland. i don't believe we could have a blanket approach to solving these issues but i think that we can collectively work together and develop a strategy based on solutions that are in all of those different from france to get there but specifics will come later after convening with the community leaders and convening for some of the crust of leaders and figure out how it works with different communities. ja'ron smith.

right on crime.com. website thank you for your time today. tesco we will have a discussion with sarah longwell next. we will talk about the results of those cheney race yesterday. that conversation coming up on "washington journal". ♪ cracks sign for our newsletter using the qr code on the screen. but tv every sunday on c-span2 for any time online at book tv.org. television for serious readers. live sunday, september 4 on in-depth. steven hayward will be our guest

to talk about leadership, ronald reagan's hey. about the scholars who change the course of conservative politics in america. join in the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. enter -- in-depth with steven hayward on book tv on c-span2. at least six presidents recorded conversations while in office here many of those conversations during season two of the podcast presidential recordings. they are part private conversations and 100% unfiltered. >> the main thing is my heart

goes out to those people but the best of intentions are overzealous because are sure you know there's a hard time of -- [indiscernible] cracks season two on the sea spend on multiple offer where ever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: executive director she also serves as the cofounder of defendant democracy together. welcome to c-span. can you give a brief organization -- explanation of those organizations? guest: it is the broad umbrella of the organization. one of them we want -- punched

shirley after january 6. we saw pushback against those republicans who have gone forth people who voted against certifying elections some of who participated in january 6. we wanted to know there is accountability for the deflator -- behavior and it wasn't until the recent january 6 committee really got underway so we have been very engaged in trying to amplify the results and their findings. the report was told. there are lots of disaffected republicans all recall them there are many independent sort of pro-democracy. there is of robusta micro c space that has crept up over the last six years so it is really people across the political stress --