LOS ANGELES, California — Los Angeles officially recorded 300 homicides as of Sunday, reaching a mark not seen since 2009, after Mayor Eric Garcetti’s decision to defund the police by $150 million, including cuts to the homicide division.
Local ABC affiliate KABC-7 confirmed that homicides had reached their highest level since 2009 — with more than a month still to go.
The Los Angeles Times reported Monday:
Killings are up 25% over last year and shootings are up more than 32%, mirroring increases in violence that are driving concerns in big cities across the nation. Last week, a pregnant woman was gunned down. Children and elderly residents have been killed. Of all the year’s victims, nearly 20% have been homeless. Gangs are suspected in many cases.
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The roughly $3-billion police budget was cut this year by $150 million in the wake of widespread protests against police brutality and misconduct, and Moore said he is scrambling to put more officers on the street — particularly in South L.A., where much of the recent violence has been — as he is slashing specialized units and reducing overtime by half.
“These cuts couldn’t come at a worse time,” Moore said. “My ability to put added resources [in the community] right now is hampered.”
As Breitbart News reported in June, Garcetti announced the cuts to the police department in the midst of ongoing Black Lives Matter riots. The funds were ostensibly meant to be redistributed to “communities of color” in the city.
Moreover, as Breitbart News reported earlier this month, the homicide division has been targeted by cuts. The department’s sexual assault unit was shut down entirely due to the cuts, along with other specialized divisions, such as animal cruelty.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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