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Violent Crime Out of Control in Portland as Defunded Police Quit In Record Numbers

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Onehundred and fifteen Portland police officers have left the force since July 1 of last year. That’s the highest number in 15 years and not surprisingly, Portland is having trouble filling those open positions. Ninety-three officer positions and 43 civilian positions remain open. This comes on the heels of Portland defunding the police. The Portland police department, which was scheduled to get a 3 million dollar increase in funds, had their budget cut by 15 million dollars.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has since sought to restore $2 million in police funding, though that’s obviously only a fraction of what’s needed to get it where it was before defunding.

Those cuts were despite the fact that riots and law-breaking “mostly peaceful” protests have become a regular occurrence in Portland. Those problems have been made worse as the Mayor has handcuffed the police in dealing with them and the district attorney simply releases the vast majority of people that get arrested without charges. In other words, the government of Portland has essentially made the job of the police impossible.

This has resulted in a frightening spike in crime. As the Washington Examiner reports:

Similar to those in Portland, officers in other cities say a lack of support from city leadership is making their job nearly impossible.

The Portland mayor signed off on a bill last year that slashed the police department’s budget by millions, even as violent crime rose. Some precincts in the city have seen shootings spike by 104%.

By the beginning of March, the city already saw 20 homicides — compared to just one at this point in 2020.

Law enforcement officials defended their department when asked about the uptick in resignations, saying blame lies on politicians.

“A lot of those things in those exit interviews, nobody in the chief’s office have any power over,” Assistant Police Chief Mike Frome told the Oregonian. “We don’t have any power over City Council. We don’t have any power over the mayor or the governor or any members of City Council. We can only focus on what we can do here.’’

The real problem here is that liberals have all of this backward. If you believe the police aren’t performing up to your standards, they need more money for training, not less money. Additionally, if you refuse to prosecute lawbreakers, it’s true that many of them will end up being poor and disadvantaged. What liberals always seem to miss is that most of their victims end up being poor and disadvantaged, too.

Allowing a bunch of crazies to LARP a revolution on a regular basis may be popular with liberals, but it’s pure poison for a city. Cops and businesses are leaving Portland. Crime is spiking up. People are dying. If Portland wants to live that way, that’s their choice, but everyone else in America should look at them as an example of what not to do.

John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. You can follow him on Parler here.


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