Over the last few months, we’ve seen how the pledges to ‘defund the police’ have done nothing but skyrocket crime more. Between pushing for ‘violence interrupters’ and social workers to take on more crime reporters, state officials have reported their findings – and it’s nothing but failure.
It first started in Portland, Oregon after they recently restored their gun violence task force within the city’s police department. They’d tried to use a new team, called the ‘Enhanced Community Safety Team, to respond to the skyrocketing crime in the city, but it led to the number of shootings resulting in nearly 2 1/2 times higher than the year before. The Portland city leaders had disbanded the gun violence team entirely following weeks of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Mayor Ted Wheeler notes that the uptick in gun violence has forced the city to put parts of the gun crime unit back together. They have also been dealing with staffing issues and investigating crimes since the bureau was stripped to have about 610 officers, one of the lowest numbers since 1992.
Even Minneapolis City Council members are starting to draw back and deny any involvement with the ‘defund the police’ movement. While they previously vowed to ‘dismantle’ the entire police department just weeks after George Floyd’s death, council member Steve Fletcher argues that ‘defund’ has never been the framework the council chose. He said they have planned to ‘design a better system’ while moving away from traditional armed law enforcement and even moved $8 million from the policing budget into violence prevention and mental health programs.
When comparing the Minneapolis crime numbers from 2019 to 2020, violent crimes with homicide increased 70%, gunshot wound victims nearly doubled with a 105% increase, and carjackings rose 300% rising from 101 to 405.
And finally, Los Angeles, who voted to slash the LAPD budget by $150 million last summer, just approved a $36 million increase in their county. Last summer Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made it abundantly clear that the city would not expand its police budget and that they will continue to follow protocols to ‘defund the police.’ Seems like a lot has changed in his mind since then.
This change in plans follows the crime spike and disastrous effects that have hit their city as well. Murders in Los Angeles spiked by 20% overall, which is a significant increase since the area has seen a steadily fallen homicide rate over the last three decades. Between January and September 2020, the Vermont Square area of South Los Angeles had 12 homicide victims, compared to three during the same period of 2019. Two other districts, both Boyle Heights and Downtown, each had 15 homicides during those months in 2020.
The city originally proposed a $111 million increase this year but approved $36 million to the five-year law enforcement contract with the Los Angeles Police Department, as well as $40 million in the 2022 budget. While they claim that the violence rates are rising due to financial stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, Capt. Paul Vernon, who leads the LAPD’s Compstat division, adds that there have also been fewer officers available for alternate duties due to COVID-19 related duties and the widespread demonstrations/riots.
“The Metro Board of Directors on Thursday approved a $36-million increase to Metro’s five-year law enforcement contract with the Los Angeles Police Department, Long Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to cover additional costs through Dec. 31 of this year,” The Metro Board of Directors issued in a statement.
Only ‘woke liberals’ would believe that decreasing the police budget would decrease crime. But actions speak louder than words and Democrats continue to lay solid to the core hypocrisy of everything they say. Counselors don’t take the role of cops when it comes to criminals. Common sense would tell you that.
Shocker, less police = more crime . . . https://t.co/ykb8d470tp
— American Conservatives (@AmConservatives) March 27, 2021
