Was that really a good idea?
By Bensen32
@Bensen32 (28658)
United States
January 3, 2022 6:35am CST
Due to an earlier comment on an older post I had to do a little research and see just how well this “defund the police” is going. I already thought it was a stupid idea in the first place but thought I would give it a look and see just how much it is beneficial to the cities who have went with this.
So, in some short research this is some of what I found out. Of the large cities there were 22 that cut their police budgets for the year 2020 and 2021 ranging from $1 million to 1 billion, for a total of 1.73 billion cut. That is a lot of money cut and this money was to go to a variety of services. Many cities told of how this was going to go to things like housing development, jobs training and development, and many social services. This sounds like a great plan.
What we see is a significant increase in crime in all but one city of the 22, from 2019 to 2021, the time that these cities “defunded the police”. The exception to the rule is Burlington, VT who is the one that cut their budget by $1 million. Burlington is not what I would call a high crime city in the first place, but they only seen a .9% increase in total crimes from 2019 to 2020.
We do have places like Austin, TX who dropped $150 million from their budget and seen a 200% increase in murders. Minneapolis, MN who dropped $8 million from their budget for 23% increase in violent crimes. New York, NY who dropped a billion dollars from their budget saw an overall increase in crime by 30.4% with their shooting incidents increase by 166%.
I could go on and on with every city, but I won’t. The bottom line is 2020 seen an overall, nationwide increase of murders by 15%. Can we say it is only due to the “defund the police” movement, of course we can’t. It does make you think about if that was a good idea or not.
Of course, this movement seemed to be a political thing just like everything else these days. Where most Republicans thought this was a bad idea from the beginning it seems the Democrats who ran most of these cities have been pulling back and changing their mind now that they seen such a dramatic increase in crime in their cities.
To me this is what happens when we let the mobs rule our cities. When we let our emotions dictate our choices.
5 people like this
4 responses
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
7 Jan 22
I am and have always been pro police. In my 30+ year career working in municipal government, I have worked closely with police officers in trying to make our communities better and safer. They work hard to serve and protect citizens and go out of their way to help people in need.
2 people like this

@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Jan 22
@Bensen32 I have been lucky in that I have never had any experiences with bad or corrupt cops, both personally and professionally. When I was working for the city, there was one cop that I was friends with who was the president of the local police union, and he was arrested and charged for embezzling union dues. But other than that, every cop I've come into contact with has been "good guys."
1 person likes this
@Bensen32 (28658)
• United States
7 Jan 22
In all my years I have run into one or two that were not fit to be cops but in that time I have met some really good people and one of the best people I have met in my life was a former Chicago cop. Sadly he is no longer with us.
I guess I was lucky as a teen to have many run-ins with a local cop that despite my moronic teen ideas and doings, he was always professional and respectful and showed me that cops can be caring and fair.
1 person likes this




@dgobucks226 (37621)
•
6 Jan 22
When you allow people to loot and harm store owners in the name of racial/social injustice this is what happens. These hoodlums are arrested and released without bail in these "blue cities" so there is no consequence for their actions. The Mayors in these Democratic cities/states seem to lack any Common sense! If you reduce law
enforcement and tie the hands of Police it sends a message you can get away with crime.
Police recruitment is down as a result, because the whole force is vilified by government leaders and the media for a few bad cops. Now that crime and violence is up, the intelligent people realize it's not safe, and finally these stupid Mayors/officials wake up and decide maybe it's not such a good idea to defund the police.
What is ironic is "Blue" is the color for our police and "Blue" represents Democratic states/cities/party.
What a croc that is!
What is ironic is "Blue" is the color for our police and "Blue" represents Democratic states/cities/party.
What a croc that is!1 person likes this

@dgobucks226 (37621)
•
8 Jan 22
@Bensen32 Exactly. And I thought these politicians worked for the good of the people?
1 person likes this
@Bensen32 (28658)
• United States
8 Jan 22
@dgobucks226 yeah that is long gone they work to line their pockets.
1 person likes this





