It should be mandatory to fact check both what President Donald Trump says and his tweets. It seems that many Americans will believe whatever he chooses to say or write and by doing so, have shielded themselves from the facts.

During his campaign, Trump sent out a tweet stating that inner-city crime is reaching record levels. This tweet, which is extremely inaccurate, is based solely on opinion with no statistics taken into account. In fact, violent crime has been declining for more than five years, according to the Pew Research Center. They even go as far as to say that United States citizens view of violent crime doesn’t often align with the data, saying that citizens believe the rates of crime are higher than the reality.

It is unacceptable that our now current president is not paying attention to simple facts that a sophomore in college can easily find from reputable sources. It is even shocking that many people believe him and do not try to search for the factual data.

In 2015, the violent crime rate increased by 3.1 percent when compared to 2014 statistics, according to FBI crime data. However, this percentage is insignificant compared to the thirteen years before where the crime rate consistently declined.

There are statistics that show the rise and fall of crime rates and it seems that Trump has not taken a glance at any real information that could possibly help him win over liberal voters. It is said that the violent crime decline has been happening for decades and that small increases in few cities have exaggerated the rates, according to the Washington Post.

From 1993-2015, the violent crime rate fell 50 percent, according to the Pew Research Center.

So, what does one do with this information?

It seems clear that many people believe that violent crime in urban areas is increasing but the statistics say otherwise. There may be a few spikes in cities such as Chicago, but that doesn’t contribute to all city crime. There are speculations to why the crime rate has gone up but there is not enough information to say for sure. And even though Trump said he would “bring in the feds” in Chicago, the feds are already working with the police force there, according to the Washington Post.

Personally, it seems clear that Trump’s statements should be taken with a grain of salt and if Americans want the real information, they should take it upon themselves to fact check what our current president says and tweets.

Law enforcement officials were at a loss of how to explain the different decreases and increases of violent crimes rates in major cities in 2016, according to the New York Times. It appears that murders and most other times of crime are at an all time low since their record high in the 1990s.

If we are at record lows, doesn’t it make sense that the numbers would go up? Especially in highly populated urban areas, it seems that crime would be common. But a small increase or increases in few cities does not mean that there is an epidemic nor is it related to one group of people.

Overall, there is no definitive answer to what has caused spikes in major cities across the U.S. but it could be that there are many different areas that these urban landscapes must do better on such as the quality of policing, gang-violence and socioeconomic status.

Not only with urban crime, but other issues concerning Americans, it should be clear to not trust everything that Trump states.