Defunding Police is Willfully Ignorant

There is an old saying that warns people who hate police better learn to make friends with criminals. Nowhere is that more relevant than the insane idea of defunding police and the even more inane call for abolishing police departments that is sweeping the country in large urban cities. This isn’t a serious public policy proposal. It is one of the most ill-thought-out ideas I have ever heard of. Mayors and city councils are rushing to crawl in bed with the slime from Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA and other cop-hating groups in crafting public safety policy that would hurt minority residents in low-income neighborhoods the most.

What I find interesting is that these tone-deaf politicians do not have the support of the residents who elected them. They need to be reminded that the number one priority of local and state government is to secure the personal safety of its citizens. No other priority of government even comes close.

Here are a few examples. A city councilwoman in Denver proposed replacing their police department with a largely unarmed peace force that she said would prevent crime by taking a “holistic, anti-racist, public health-oriented approach.” If you can decipher that babble, please let me know what it means. My response is, yeah, OK. Let me know how that works out, lady. This comes as Denver is on pace for its deadliest year in more than a decade for homicides. Milwaukee, where I live, will see its police department budget cut by 10%. Milwaukee has the highest homicide rate increase in the country, reporting that murders are up 125%. The Los Angeles Police Department just saw its budget cut by $140 million. This as the city is experiencing a spike in shootings and a 250% increase in homicides to start the month of June. According to Minneapolis Police Department crime data, there have been 2,170 stolen vehicles this year through July, a 46% increase over the same time period in 2019. The New York City Council has proposed a $1 billion cut in the NYPD budget. New York City has seen a 23% increase in murders and in June, shootings increased by 123%. Burglaries in the Big Apple have increased a staggering 118% so far in 2020. Minneapolis, the city where a one-off police incident was used as the excuse for nationwide rioting by cop haters, has seen murders increase by 95%. In one two-week period this summer, 32 people have been shot in street violence. Robberies and auto thefts are also on the rise. This while the city council announced that the police department would have its budget trimmed by $1.5 million.

This irresponsible budget cutting is compounding matters as police departments face record numbers of retirements and resignations. Officers are citing a lack of political support and for being unfairly maligned for failed public policy decisions by those same politicians that led to so many of the problems officers deal with on a daily basis. Retirements are up 411% in the NYPD and 156% in Milwaukee. Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis are also seeing spikes in retirements and resignations. That institutional knowledge and experience going out the door all at once is not easy to replace.

Nowhere is there support for having fewer officers on the street. Nowhere is there support for fewer resources for officers to succeed in their primary mission of keeping the peace and preventing crime. Not in Seattle, not in Portland, not in Minneapolis, not in Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles or New York. Polls and surveys indicate how residents feel. A recent Gallup Poll showed that 81% of black Americans do not want police departments defunded. In fact, the poll showed that they want more police protection. A Marquette University poll conducted in August showed that 78% of Wisconsin residents polled do not want police departments defunded. This begs the question: Who are these spineless politicians catering to anyway? They certainly are not listening to their law-abiding residents.

It is having a traumatic effect on businesses, too, as some owners have decided to close up shop in retail areas in Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle and Portland, cities that have seen rioting and looting continue unabated. One Fox News story headline read like this, “Seattle Business Owners Close Shop As City Moves To Defund Police: Safety Became Paramount.” Another news headline said, “Chicago Chamber of Commerce president calls for serious response after downtown looting devastates businesses.” One jeweler with a store on the upscale Magnificent Mile shops area indicated he’s had enough and is looking to move. He has resorted to arming himself for his own protection. Have these absent-minded politicians considered the impact on the city tax base if businesses pull out because they no longer feel safe for themselves and their customers?

The system is blinking red. Weak-kneed politicians seem oblivious as their cities burn and are ravaged by violence and looting. We are reaching a tipping point, a point of no return as the war on cops continues. If they don’t reverse course immediately, we will see the thin blue line, as we in the business call it, be turned into a thin blue thread.

Sheriff David Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of AmericasSheriff LLC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com