The idea of ‘defunding the police NEVER was practical ….
Republican’s have little use for it….
Democrat’s either….
On a case by case basis?
The worst cop vs black’s situations we ARE seeing more media and some cops being convicted and going to jail….
But for the vast numbers of cops going to work every 24/7?
It’s been more violence in the streets….
That has resulted in more overtime money and more cops….
Not less….
A year after streets echoed with calls to “defund” law enforcement and city leaders embraced the message by agreeing to take $150 million away from the Los Angeles Police Department, or about 8 percent of the department’s budget, the city last week agreed to increase the police budget to allow the department to hire about 250 officers. The increase essentially restores the cuts that followed the protests.
On the streets of South Los Angeles, where residents have historically suffered the most from aggressive policing and gang violence and where much of the current surge in shootings is happening, officers are ramping up patrols and stopping more cars to look for guns.
All of this necessary, some city leaders believe, because violent crime is up sharply — last year murders were up 36 percent in L.A. — and the city is awash in new guns….
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It is a trend mirrored across the country, where crime is skyrocketing in many big cities, putting liberal leaders under pressure to balance the demands of activists against the concerns of some residents about rising violence. In New York, where homicides grew by nearly 45 percent last year, crime is dominatingthe discussion in the race for mayor. Last week in Philadelphia, where crime is up sharply, Democratic primary voters overwhelmingly backed the city’s progressive district attorney, despite opposition from police unions. Even smaller cities haven’t been spared the rise in violence: Louisville last year set a record for homicides, with 173, and this year is on pace to surpass that.
Criminologists and law enforcement leaders largely blame the rise in violence on two things: a historic increase in gun-buying by Americans, with a flood of illegal, so-called ghost guns, often assembled with parts bought online and are untraceable, and the despair and economic devastation of the pandemic. Still, while the number of murders in Los Angeles last year — 350 — was the highest in more than a decade, it was nowhere near the number of killings in the early 1990s, when more than 1,000 people were killed in a year. And other crimes, such as rape and burglary, are down so far this year compared with numbers from last year….
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In some liberal cities like Minneapolis, where gun violence is surging and where the Police Department is depleted after so many officers quit or retired, some elected leaders and older clergy members and civil rights leaders are echoing the sentiments of conservative commentators who claim a link between the violence and the movement to defund police departments, saying officers are demoralized and pulling back on patrolling high-crime areas….
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Last month, speaking from the Griffith Observatory, the panorama of the city laid out before him, Mayor Eric Garcetti, in his annual State of the City address, noted the rise in homicides and said, “If you want to abolish the police, you’re talking to the wrong mayor.”
His proposal to increase the police budget has angered activists, but everyone has one shared hope: that as the pandemic recedes, and parks and schools reopen, and gang interventionists can get back to work, that crime numbers will go back down. That would create new space for activists to push for deeper changes in policing…..
On the Federal level….
“This is not about going after good officers. This is about when officers have breached the civil rights of another American citizen,” Booker said. “To me, we need this to create real accountability. So, I’m at the negotiating table fighting for that.
Booker sees the negotiations as a bipartisan effort to effect change. He has worked closely with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.).
“I wouldn’t have a negotiating partner in Tim Scott if [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell didn’t believe that this is something that we should be at the table trying to work through,” Booker said. “We are, on the Senate side, working in good faith to bring this to a conclusion.”
Booker and his allies also have the backing of President Joe Biden as they advance police reform proposals….
Note…
This does NOT mean that there isn’t a need to address racism and non-violent contacts between the police and their public….
It does NOT mean that local government shouldn’t push to give the first responding cop’s more tools to use with people who need help, not to be locked up….
But violent crime MUST be handled first….
Law Enforcement Overwhelmed with Retirements
Associated Press: “Law enforcement agencies across the country experienced a wave of retirements and departures and are struggling to recruit the next generation of police officers in the year since George Floyd was killed by a cop.”
“The rate of retirements at some departments rose 45 percent compared with the previous year… At the same time, hiring slowed by 5 percent.”
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Capitol Police Officer to Be Honored at Nationals Game
Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, “the man hailed as a hero for facing down a mob at the Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6, will throw out the first pitch at the Nationals-Mets game on June 18,” WJLA reports.