“Draconian” defund the police efforts are unlikely to succeed anywhere in the country after voters in Minneapolis overwhelmingly rejected a defund initiative in Tuesday’s election, according to the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) executive director.
“I believe, by and large, that ship has sailed,” said Jim Pasco, the executive director of the FOP, according to Axios, in response to the failed effort backed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and other leftists.
Minneapolis’s defeated proposal asked if the city charter for the Minneapolis Police Department should be amended and replaced with a Department of Public Safety. In turn, by doing this, the city would have eliminated the minimum police staffing requirement as well as the position of police chief. The proposal was defeated 57 percent to 43 percent on the ballot after all voting precincts finished reporting.
While the efforts to defund the police in Minneapolis on Tuesday were defeated, crime had dramatically increased over the country last year. In an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) exclusively published at Breitbart News, he outlined recent data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) showing the skyrocketing numbers of crime happening across the county.
“The number of murders rose by 29 percent, drug overdose deaths increased 30 percent, and the number of gang-related killings skyrocketed more than 55 percent,” Cotton wrote. “To put this carnage into context, a 29 percent increase in murder isn’t simply bad, it’s the worst single-year increase in American history.” Cotton outlined that the crime also rose exponentially:
The number of assaults rose by 12 percent last year and criminal assailants committed nearly 75,000 more violent crimes than they committed in 2019. Although the total number of property crimes fell, the total cost of those crimes rose by nearly $2 billion. Recorded cases of arson also rose by nearly 35 percent, a trend that is likely associated with last summer’s BLM riots, which were the most destructive in American history.
In Democrat-dominated cities, violent crime rose far more than the national average. Last year, murder rose 50 percent in Chicago, 44 percent in New York, and 38 percent in Los Angeles. The murder rate in Baltimore was higher than El Salvador’s or Guatemala’s — nations from which citizens can claim asylum purely based on gang violence and murder.
Initial estimates also reveal evidence of a shrinking American police presence. Even though the FBI gathered data from over 100 additional law-enforcement agencies than it did in 2019, it estimated 1,000 fewer police officers. This isn’t surprising; 86 percent of police chiefs report being short-staffed. Between April 2020 and April 2021, the rate of hiring in mid-sized departments dropped 29 percent and plummeted 36 percent in large departments. Equally concerning, initial data shows that the number of police killed by criminals has increased 46 percent compared to this time last year.
The FOP, which is one of the largest police unions representing 356,000 officers, also indicted this week that violence against law enforcement has risen, noting that “ambush-style” attacks are up by 139 percent since last year, showing that 109 officers have been shot in 86 of the “ambush-style” attacks. The union also included statistics showing so far this year 281 officers have been shot and 52 officers have been killed by gunfire.
“For months, the media has tried to deny and downplay this disaster because they know Democrat mayors, progressive prosecutors, and liberal governors are to blame,” Cotton also explained.
Breitbart News reported, “Across the bluest of regions in the United States, the leftist rallying call to “Defund the police” collapsed on election night, as even the most liberal voters rejected such plans.”
The report noted that, while Minneapolis rejected the ballot proposal, defund the police movement candidates failed across the country, in the mayoral and district attorney races in New York City, upstate New York, and Long Island; and in the City Attorney’s race in Seattle, further showing that the “ship has sailed” on the issue.
However, some advocates supporting defunding the police, such as Black Visions, a Minnesota-based black LGBTQ group, said, “Dismantling and abolishing violent institutions and building and resourcing community safety strategies is and continues to be the goal.”
Another group who supported the measure, TakeAction Minnesota, said that the fight to defund the police is more significant than one election.
Pasco noted that, to his knowledge, there are not any other proposals as bad as the one offered up in Minneapolis. However, his union would still monitor situations across the country if there are any other isolated incidents.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.
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