Defund The Police Movement Backfires

Following Months Of Anti-Police Rhetoric And Police Department Budget Cuts, Crime Has Soared And Dem-Run Cities Are Backtracking

DEFUNDING THE POLICE HAS ENDANGERED COMMUNITIES AND LED TO A SPIKE IN CRIME

• One year after the “defund the police” movement took hold, cities are walking back efforts to strip police departments of funding after crime rates have sharply risen.
• This about-face comes after months of anti-police rhetoric – a disgrace to the courage and selflessness of dedicated law enforcement officers across our nation. 
• Americans, small businesses, and communities have seen the devastating effects of the “defund the police” movement and have thoroughly rejected it.
  • Fewer than one in five Americans supports defunding the police.

CRIME RATES ARE SPIKING ACROSS THE NATION

• Across the nation, “nearly all major American cities are seeing spikes in violent crime.” 
• On average, homicide rates in large cities were up more than 30 percent last year, and up another 24 percent for the beginning of this year.
  • In 2020, homicides were up 82 percent in Portland, Oregon, 72 percent in Minneapolis, and 36 percent in Los Angeles.
  • In Chicago and several other cities, last year was the worst year for killings since the mid-1990s.
• Shootings are also on the rise, with spikes of 86 percent in New York City and 51 percent in New Orleans just this year. 
• Other types of violent crime are also skyrocketing. 
  • In Atlanta, rape, assault and vehicle thefts have increased by more than 30 percent compared with last year. 
  • In Washington, DC, carjackings have risen 141 percent in 2020. 
• Police are bracing for a violent summer, with NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison warning “the warmer months always usually give us more problems when it comes to violence.”

AMID RISING CRIME, CITIES ARE NOW REFUNDING POLICE

• After the Democrat-controlled Minneapolis City Council cut $8 million from its police department last year, it has now voted to approve $6.4 million in additional funding after citizens saw longer emergency response times and surging violent crime.
• Oakland City Council voted unanimously to restore $10 million in funding to the city’s police and fire departments after cutting $25 million from police.
• After the Democrat-controlled Los Angeles City Council slashed the LAPD budget by $150 million last summer, the LA County Metropolitan Transit Authority has now voted to boost contracts with law enforcement by $36 million.
• Last year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) promised to slash $1 billion from the NYPD and eliminate a new precinct building in Queens, but he recently reversed course and announced $105 million to build the precinct. 
• Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D), who campaigned on cutting the police budget by $22 million, has now proposed a $27 million increase.
• After the Portland, Oregon City Commission voted to cut $16 million from their police budget last summer, the mayor called to refund the police by nearly $2 million in response to rising violent crime. 

ANTI-COP RHETORIC HURTS COMMUNITIES AND THE LAW ENFORCEMENT WHO SERVE THEM

• Frustrated, underfunded, and disrespected, many law enforcement officers are leaving the force. 
  • In 2020, more than 5,300 NYPD officers retired or put in papers to retire – a 75 percent spike from 2019. 
  • Just a few months ago, the Minneapolis Police Department had only 638 active officers, about 200 fewer than usual, due to an unprecedented number of officers quitting or going on extended medical leave.
  • After the Seattle City Council voted to slash Police Chief Carmen Best’s department budget by 14 percent, she resigned: “It’s about the overwhelming lack of respect for the officers . . . It goes against my principles and conviction, and I really couldn’t do it.”
• Democrats’ anti-police rhetoric is destroying morale and putting cops in danger.
  • Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch: “[Morale is] at an all-time low. It’s the most difficult time, and the most complex time to be a New York City police officer.” 
  • National Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes: “I think that the present climate that we see throughout the country right now and the dehumanization of law enforcement is certainly, I think, having some impact on aggression towards law enforcement.” 
• Alarmingly, 128 police officers have been shot in 2021 and “ambush-style” attacks on law enforcement are up 50 percent from last year. 

DEMOCRATS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS HORRIFIC TREND

• Democrats fueled the movement to defund the police last summer and are squarely to blame for the results of this disastrous policy.
  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY): “Defunding the police means defunding the police.” 
  • Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN): “We need to completely dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. Because here’s the thing, there’s a cancer.”
  • Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA): Efforts to defund police departments are “about the investment in our communities which have historically been divested from.”
• Now, even though the horrendous results of this movement have become evident, Democrats are doubling down on calls to defund police.
  • Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI): “Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist . . . No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can't be reformed.”
  • Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO): “Defunding the police isn’t radical, it’s real.”