Almost exactly four years ago, when parts of downtown Kenosha were destroyed in riots as the city protested the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Donald Trump was president. Since Trump left office, violent crime has declined, FBI data shows.

Here in Wisconsin, funding for local governments and their emergency services, including police departments, was increased under a bipartisan bill signed last year by Governor Tony Evers.

But on Tuesday afternoon, Trump’s supporters said they wanted his leadership back on crime and public safety as Trump’s running mate, Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance, held a press conference on criminal justice in the same park where many of those 2020 protests took place, attacking Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on public safety and linking it to activists’ 2020 calls to “defund the police.”

Vance promised that his administration under Trump would protect public safety by tougher enforcement of immigration laws, sentencing people convicted of drug trafficking to death and stopping prosecutions of police officers.

“We don’t just have a series of Trump campaign promises,” Vance said. “We have four years of successful leadership by Donald Trump that has delivered public safety on our streets, and that is something to look forward to and something to look forward to. So here is President Trump’s solemn promise to our law enforcement agency and to all who benefit from their sacrifices and their public safety.”

On Tuesday, city gritters and buses lined downtown Kenosha and blocked car traffic from the park, similar to measures used in 2020 to block the movement of protesters, but this time so that U.S. intelligence could restrict access to the park.

Sharon Buege, a Kenosha resident who volunteers for the Republican Party and attended the press conference, told the Wisconsin Examiner that she appreciated what she considered Vance’s “positive” message about “supporting the badge.” She still blames Democrats for the property damage in her city in 2020.

“They let our city burn,” she said.

Buege opposes “the entire left-wing agenda” and Democrats, whom she described as “a bunch of radical lunatics.” She listed a long list of common Republican complaints about the country’s southern border, the economy, abortion and school curriculum as her top issues.

At the event, the Trump-Vance ticket received the endorsement of the Kenosha Professional Police Association, the second police union in the state to announce its support for Trump after the Milwaukee Police Association endorsed him last week.

“Public safety is the foundation of a good country and Wisconsin police know that Donald Trump is the public safety candidate,” Vance said of the endorsement.

In his speech, Vance – joined on stage by US Senate candidate Eric Hovde and US Representative Bryan Steil – attacked Chicago, where the Democrats are currently holding their convention, as the “murder capital of the United States.” He spoke of “Mexican drug cartels” doing business in Wisconsin and questioned Harris’ ability to solve these problems after more than three years in the White House.

While Chicago had more murders than any other city in 2022, it is one of the largest cities in the country, ranking 17th in terms of murder rate per 100,000 residents relative to population.

Gina Paulick, who recently moved to Mount Pleasant from California, said she thought Vance’s message was good because it “reaffirms support for the police.”

“Everyone wants to feel safe in their environment,” she said.

Paulick said she “fled” California because of crime and inflation and she was glad her Republican vote made a significant difference in a swing state.

Outside the park, where a crowd waited anxiously to hear Vance’s remarks after security forces barred anyone from entering the area, conspiracy theories abounded.

A woman named Nancy declined to give her last name or where she lives, citing vague fears that “they’re desperate to win this election” and will punish her for her comments. She veered between complaints about the salaries of University of Wisconsin administrators, the Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of the cleanup after a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, the war in Gaza and global warming.

At one point she went into detail, talking about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, gasoline prices, and the propaganda taught in American universities.

When asked why she was attending the event, she said that under Trump, the country had “normal gas prices, real peace and real prosperity.”