Rep. Steve Cohen Wants Taxpayers to Pay to Reduce Memphis’ High Crime Rate

  U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat representing Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District, says Memphis’ crime rate is too high and you, the federal taxpayer, must chip in to make it right. Last week, Cohen and U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat representing Florida’s 10th Congressional District, introduced the Safer Streets Act. They describe it as a new grant program that will help cities with high rates of violent crime. “The Safer Streets Act is intended to provide additional funding to address violent crime in places where the rate is significantly above the national average – places like Memphis,” Cohen said in a press release. “With these grants, local governments with crime rates four times the national average would be eligible for half of the funds; those with three times the national rate would be eligible for 20 percent of the funds and those with twice that national rate would be eligible for the remaining 10 percent of funds. The bill also creates an emergency fund for units of local government that have spikes of violent crime.” If the Safer Streets Act is enacted into law then the U.S. Department of Justice will administer grants to local jurisdictions to hire more law…

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