AG Sessions Tells Law Enforcement Execs In Atlanta: 'We Have Your Back'

ATLANTA, GA -- Embattled U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke in Atlanta on Tuesday at a conference of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. Sessions addressed the Justice Department’s support for law enforcement, saying that inner-city communities had the most at stake in a law-abiding society.

Sessions said that only 30 percent of African-Americans had faith in law enforcement, something that he vowed to try to fix. He added that black law enforcement officers knew more than anybody the disparities that exist in criminal law cases and how what they did on the job affected the community.

He said capital homicides rates are up substantially in recent years and that qualified officers -- "the best of the best" -- were needed everywhere.

"Murders in Baltimore and Chicago have turned those cities, as described by our media, into killing fields," he said.

"You don't get the credit often enough, but instead you get the blame that you don't deserve," he said. (SIGN UP: For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. Or if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

"I'm proud to stand with you. The Department of Justice is proud to stand with you," he said to light applause. "We have your back."

Sessions has been on the hot seat recently as his boss, President Donald Trump, has recently taken a number of shots at him, criticizing him for recusing himself from the Russia probe and more.

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In controversial tweets last week, Trump said lambasted Congress and called Sessions "beleaguered." He said: "So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?"

President Trump Appears To Confirm Leaks About Jeff Sessions

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Trump criticized Sessions and said that he ""should have never recused himself and if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else."

Watch: Sessions To Black Officers: DOJ Has Your Back

Sessions was followed on stage by Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields.

Photo credit: Tiffany Johnson