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Democrat mayors who defunded the police in the wake of George Floyd protests last year are now backtracking.
Church Militant’s Nadia Hazimeh identifies how, even in the most liberal cities, leaders and residents are unhappy with the current crime spike.
Over the course of a month, one by one, the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago, New York City, Minneapolis and Portland have issued new budgets to fund the police after all their budgets were cut by millions.
This left mayors dealing with a rise in homicides, an officer exodus and political pressures.
Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago pleaded with the federal government to help with crime and violence.
Lightfoot: “With all deliberate haste, detail ATF agents to Chicago for six months so that we can increase the number of gun investigations and seizures in Chicago.”
And the feds are helping. Biden’s administration is trying to distance Democrats from the defund movement. Monday the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it’ll give $1.6 billion to programs aimed at reducing violent crime across the country.
Earlier this year, a HarrisX poll found 83% of registered voters have a favorable view of police officers. This sentiment was evident to Seattle mayor-elect Bruce Harrell.
Harrell: “I believe our communities want effective police officers.”
A week after winning in November, Harrell, a Democrat, criticized a proposed $10 million cut to the police budget, saying, “The voters of Seattle resoundingly and unambiguously rejected defunding the police.”
And Seattle residents won’t forget being rocked by the deadly CHAZ, or Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, last year.
If voters recall the role played by Democrats in the current crime spikes, it could hurt blue candidates in the midterms.
According to the FBI, the United States experienced a nearly 30% jump in homicides in 2020 compared to 2019.