How Cities Go From Safe To Criminal Insanity

Highlights

Most of us in the justice system understood that the riots and attacks on all cops as racist and brutal would prompt officers to leave and pull back from proactive policing, the one modality that’s proven to lower crime and violence per the US Department of Justice.

We understood what was going to happen and why. It was an unfolding tragedy that we were powerless to stop. Violence in cities is rising per the USDOJ.

Author

Opinion

Minneapolis went from a relatively safe, prosperous, progressive city (i.e., the far left outpost of the eastern liberal establishment) to a city with an onerous crime problem.

Intermingled in the discussion of Minneapolis (and all high-crime cities) are the police use of force, protests-riots, race, and the progressive movement; items many have difficulty discussing or understanding. The “defund the police” movement is on life support, yet still alive for die-hards.

As the CNN article below documents, progressives are at the heart and soul of the troubles in Minneapolis as the epicenter of the “defund the police movement.” Most of us in the justice system understood that the riots and attacks on all cops as racist and brutal would lead to them leaving and pulling back from proactive policing, the one modality proven to lower crime and violence per the US Department of Justice. Progressive crime efforts, regardless of good intent, can (and have) produced less than satisfying results.

Veterans of the justice system understood what was going to happen and why. It was an unfolding tragedy that we were powerless to stop.

Many of us felt betrayed by the labeling of all cops in less than flattering terms as if the stereotyping of a million police employees based on the actions of a few didn’t have the same fundamental underpinnings as any other form of “isms.”

We knew that tens of thousands of police officers would leave the profession (which has happened and seems to be accelerating) resulting in a crisis of increased crime and delayed response (or no response) in cities throughout the country.

The article below from CNN may be the best overview of the issues. It strives to be fair while examining varied sides. The conditions described apply to a multitude of cities thus the lessons, however hard they are, apply to the entire country. Neither cops nor their detractors will like everything offered.

CNN

Editor’s Note: This article uses selective and rearranged quotes from CNN. I  encourage readers to access the entire article and come to their own conclusions.

CNN Article

After the police murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, Minneapolis became a worldwide symbol of the police brutality long endured disproportionately by Black people. In a kind of Newtonian response, the city became the epicenter of the culturally seismic “Defund the Police” movement. But that progressive local effort fizzled with a decisive referendum last November.

Now, with its police department under investigation by the Department of Justice, the city of 425,000 is trying to find a way forward amid a period of heightened crime that began shortly after Floyd’s death.

That year, the number of murders soared to nearly 80 — dwarfing the 2019 body count of 46. It has cooled somewhat this year, though the amount of killing — and violent crime in general — remains elevated far above 2019 levels and homicides are on pace to surpass the 2020 figure. The reasons why are far from clear.

KG Wilson, a longtime resident of the Twin Cities, said police withdrew from violent neighborhoods in the aftermath of Floyd’s killing — a common sentiment among locals. “The criminals were celebrating. They were getting rich,” he said. “They were selling drugs openly.”

Citing sinking morale in the wake of the unrest after Floyd’s killing, leaders at the Minneapolis Police Department say the officer head count has shrunk from 900 in early 2020 to about 560 in August — a loss of more than a third of the force.

Against this backdrop, the political pendulum on public-safety matters in this reliably liberal city — the “Mini Apple” hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1973, and that was for just a single day — seems to have swung away from a progressive mindset towards the middle.

And on matters of public safety, the middle is where many of the city’s Black residents already were.

Last year, progressives touted a ballot measure that was said to be a referendum on the “defund” concept. Question 2, as it was known locally, would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a new “public health-oriented” Department of Public Safety and removed a minimum staffing requirement from the city charter.

It failed in November, with 56% of voters rejecting it. That figure was 61% in north Minneapolis, a pair of neighboring city wards where Blacks make up a strong plurality of the roughly 66,000 residents. All but one of the 17 precincts in the north voted against the measure.

“We did not believe that the police should be defunded, but we do believe in police reforms,” said Bishop Richard Howell of Shiloh Temple, a north-side church founded more than 90 years ago.

Rae McKay-Anderson — Telly Blair’s sister — said “you can’t possibly defund the police in a way that’s going to benefit the Black community.”

Dealing the final blow to the local “defund” movement last year was a city council vote to essentially refund a cut they’d made the prior year. Mayor Jacob Frey is proposing another budget bump for the next two fiscal years.

The question of the moment is, if the police budget has been restored, and if all the anti-cop shouting by politicians and activists that left officers demoralized has weakened to a whimper, why are citizens — especially in the rough parts of north Minneapolis — still feeling neglected by police and fearful for their safety?

Oden was among eight residents in north Minneapolis who filed a lawsuit in the summer of 2020 calling on the city to replenish the police department by filling vacant positions. The suit singled out city council members who supported the “radical ‘dismantle the police’” idea and accused them and Mayor Frey of creating a “hostile” environment for the police. It was largely upheld by a state Supreme Court decision this summer — meaning the city needs to staff up to at least 731 police officers.

Doug Seaton, an attorney representing the eight residents, said the successful suit was filed in direct response to how progressive city council members had embraced the “defund” idea. It demoralized the police department and ultimately led to a mass exodus of officers, he said.

“That is, we think, the major reason that crime has spiked throughout the city and hasn’t gone away yet,” Seaton said.