JAN. 2025. Blues Vol 41 No. 1

GUEST COMENTARYCraig

GUEST COMENTARYCraig FloydElection Signals the End of‘Defund the Police’ SentimentThe latest national election resultsshow Americans want safercommunities, stronger prosecutors,and less crime. Basically, itmarks the end of the “Defund thePolice” movement and a swingtoward a pro-police sentiment.If there was any doubt left,last month’s elections sealed thedeal. The nationwide experimentlabeled “Defund the Police” wasan abject failure. Our citizensmade it clear that they are sickand tired of politicians who prefercoddling criminals to supportingour police. Sadly though,it will take years to recover fromthe disastrous consequences ofthis movement that decimatedand demoralized our nation’s policeforces, ignited more crime,and cost thousands of innocentlives.The election results last monthwere a knockout blow to the“defund” movement. KamalaHarris was one of the movement’searliest and strongestsupporters. She wanted to“re-imagine” policing. In Juneof 2020, she said, “For too long,the status quo thinking has been:You get more safety by puttingmore cops on the street—wellthat’s wrong.”The American electorate, andhard data, disagreed.Not only was Harris soundlydefeated, but she lost to anopponent who had pledged ifhe were re-elected president,“There won’t be defunding, therewon’t be dismantling of our police,and there is not going to beany disbanding of our police.”There were many other notablepro-police and anti crimeelection results on Nov. 5. Twelveout of 25 George Soros-linkedprogressive, soft-on-crimelocal district attorneys acrossthe U.S. were either defeated orrecalled—many of them in deepblue jurisdictions.The biggest loser was LosAngeles District Attorney GeorgeGascon, who lost by 24 pointsto tough-on-crime opponentNathan Hochman. Voters acrossCalifornia, one of the most liberalstates in the nation, overwhelminglyapproved Proposition36, which lengthens jail andprison sentences for drug andtheft convictions.This voter outrage should havebeen expected given the damagedone by politicians who cateredto criminals at the expense ofpublic safety.Cities across the country cuthundreds of millions of dollarsfrom their police budgets as aknee-jerk reaction to GeorgeFloyd’s death in 2020. After beingdefunded and defamed, officersleft the profession in droves. Thenumber of full-time state andlocal officers dropped by 5.3%between 2019 and 2021, whichmeant 36,907 fewer officerswere serving and protecting ourcommunities.During this same period, policeresponse times slowed and violentcrime in America spiked by3.8%. In 2020, homicides nationwiderose by 29.4%—the largestsingle-year increase in morethan a century.There have been many moretroubling consequences. At thestart of the “defund” movement,many cities across the countryabolished their school resourceofficer programs. In the aftermath,there has been a dramaticincrease in the number of schoolshootings—more than 300 ineach of the past two years.Progressive soft-on-crime policies,like no cash bail, have createda revolving-door criminaljustice system that has frustratedofficers and endangered citizens.Failure to prosecute shopliftershas caused retail theft toskyrocket. A recent nationwide18 The BLUES - JANUARY ‘25

survey found that 40% of retailemployees would quit their jobsnext year because of “personalsafety concerns.”Youth crime is out of controlas well. Carjackings nearlydoubled in Washington, D.C.,last year, and the average age ofthose arrested was 15.And illegal immigration hascaused some cities, like Denver,to cut their police budgets sothey can shift the money to assistthe migrants flooding into theircommunities.We can be thankful that manystates and localities have realizedthe errors of their ways andare restoring police funding andreversing failed progressive policies.Minneapolis cut its policebudget by million in 2020 onlyto reverse itself and add milliontwo years later to help fillthe ranks of its dwindling policeforce. After Oregon decriminalizedhard drugs like heroin andmethamphetamine in 2021, theresulting record-high overdosesand rampant homelessnessforced the state to backtrack andend its experiment earlier thisyear.With the “defund” movementnow on the trash heap of somany other ill-conceived ideas,the anti-police rhetoric that ledto attacks on officers by violentindividuals has also quieted,with some encouraging results.According to the Fraternal Orderof Police, the number of officersshot this year (301 as of Oct. 31)was 7% less than the same timein 2023. And the number of unprovokedambush-style shootingsof officers (71) is on pace tobe nearly 40% lower than the 138in 2023.The disastrous results of thedefund the police movementwill not be reversed overnight.We lost too many talented andexperienced law enforcementofficers. This brain drain willtake years to fix. There are stillmany pro-criminal district attorneyswho need to be replaced.And while we have a strongpro-police president soon retakingoffice, much of the “defund”damage has occurred at thestate and local level where morecorrective action is needed.However, we can be gratefulthat the pro-police, anti-crimependulum is finally swingingin the right direction. And wehave learned a valuable lesson:A well-funded and fully staffedpolice force is essential to keepingAmerica safe.ABOUT THE AUTHORCraig Floyd is the founding CEOof Citizens Behind the Badge, anational nonprofit organizationsupporting law enforcement. Thisarticle originally appeared onThe Daily Signal as Public SupportShifts From Defund Police toPro-Police Policies Nationwide.REPRINTED FROM POLICEMAG.COM.NEW # 832.627.3729“Lock-up new ink for ‘25”The BLUES - JANUARY ‘25 19