BALTIMORE Attorney General Jeff Sessions has grave concerns about the proposed consent decree between Baltimore and the federal government that would reform the citys troubled police department, a Justice Department official told a federal judge here on Thursday.

John Gore, the Trump administrations No. 2 official in the Civil Rights Division, told U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar that Sessions was concerned about a recent spike in crime and how proposed reforms could affect crime rates. Sessions concerns, Gore said, are not simply limited to Baltimore, it applies nationwide.

Bredar, a former federal public defender overseeing the pending agreement, pointed out that the United States government had already signed it following an extensive civil rights investigation into Baltimores police force. But Gore said the Trump Justice Department wanted more time to see if there may be better ways to bring about reform.