State & Fed Leaders: $500M Public Safety Cuts Will Make Our Cities Less Safe

I’m writing to you—not just Congress—because the DOJ’s public safety grant cuts will have a direct and immediate impact on our local communities. Whether you’re in state government or Washington, you have a responsibility to act. The Trump administration’s decision to cancel nearly $500 million in public safety grants will cut funding for essential programs: community policing, gun violence prevention, drug intervention, and support services for victims of crime (NPR, May 24, 2025). These are the programs that prevent crime, not just punish it. Police departments will be forced to cancel initiatives that work. Nonprofits will need to shut down the services that keep people out of jail and get them into treatment or housing. Officers will be asked to do more with fewer resources and less support. This isn’t sustainable—and it isn’t safe. If you say you back the blue, fund the programs that help them succeed. If you say you care about public safety, restore the support that actually keeps neighborhoods stable. Public safety isn’t a partisan issue—it’s a promise we make to each other as Americans.