OPINION:
President Biden’s White House is so stuck on its preconceived ideological narratives that it refuses to see the truth before it and, as a result, cannot govern seriously.
Crime rates in major U.S. cities are skyrocketing, as Democrats have moved to defund the police and evaluate alternative methods of law enforcement, such as using social workers. According to local police departments, homicides are up 800% in Portland, Oregon, 148% in Los Angeles, 93% in Minneapolis, 52% in Atlanta, 38% in Philadelphia and 22% in New York City.
When asked directly whether there a crime problem in this country, White House press secretary Jen Psaki replied: “Well, I would say certainly there is a guns problem, and that’s something the president would say.”
Really? A guns problem? It has absolutely nothing to do with the Black Lives Matter and defund the police efforts throughout 2020?
Crime to them is like the southern border crisis — they can’t admit what’s really going on, have no idea how to plausibly talk about it, and therefore have no way of addressing the problem, because it doesn’t fit within their preconceived narrative.
This type of governing is simply not serious.
Last year, Portland, which has seen the biggest spike in crimes this year, aggressively moved to defund their police department after the death of George Floyd. The Portland City Council slashed its police budget by nearly $16 million as the city was besieged with protesters and angry mob riots, demanding law enforcement officers step down.
Now, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler – the same progressive mayor who publicly rebuked then President Donald J. Trump’s offer to send in the National Guard to restore law and order to the city last year – has requested $2 million to be restored to the police budget.
He cited the rise in homicides and other violent crime as the reason for his request. The call came three days after he condemned the broad-daylight slaying of a 42-year-old man in a city park. It doesn’t appear the city’s diversion of public cash to mental health treatment and community development from law enforcement worked out too well.
Los Angeles, too, is questioning the wisdom of its defund the police movement, as it’s experiencing a crime wave. Last year the City Council removed $160 million from its police budget. Just last week, it succumbed to common sense and restored what it cut to add 250 police officers to help patrol the streets and return the city to order.
But it may be too late. Police officers around the country are quitting, retiring, taking early leave or are deciding to pursue other careers as they don’t feel supported.
After Minneapolis’ City Council vowed to defund the police last year, it’s now facing a staffing shortage. It faced double its average attrition rate last year among police officers, and city data shows in January the number of working police officers dropped from 817 to 638. Crime continues to rise.
Atlanta’s police department has about 300 vacancies and is actively trying to recruit to return calm to its streets. In Philadelphia, the city is also about 300 officers short of what its budget is supposed to have, and the city is on pace for its most violent year in recent history. And in New York, the NYPD is at its lowest headcount in a decade. Crime has become such an issue there that even progressive mayoral candidates are working a return to law and order into their stump speeches.
When policing goes down, crime rises. It’s a simple truth.
Yet, it’s a truth the White House seems unable to grasp. The only ideology they subscribe to is Black Lives Matter “good,” guns “bad.” Everything that falls outside of these two preconceived narratives when it comes to the issue of law enforcement and crime is ignored.
It’s dangerous for America to be governed this way. Someone needs to deliver the Biden administration a reality check.
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