Paris Dennard | Republican National Committee
Looking for a major cause of the spike in crime in our nation’s cities? Look no further than the devastating impacts Democrats’ defund the police efforts have had on officer morale.
“Morale is as bad as it has ever been before. We’re dealing with rioting at a level and a sustained violence that we’ve never seen before. We’re looking at violence in our city, gun violence in our city, like we’ve never seen before. We’re looking at the most catastrophic staffing levels we’ve ever seen before. We’re looking at budget cuts to defund us like we’ve never seen before. All those things play into the morale of a police officer — coming to work every day, trying to do your job, trying to do it right with all these roadblocks in your way.”
— Daryl Turner, Portland Police Association Executive Director
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But Portland is by no means an isolated example. As NBC News reports: “It’s a problem that’s exploded nationwide. Several cities have faced calls to defund the police, others have slashed budgets due to COVID, more and more officers say they feel villainized like never before. A survey of about 200 police departments finds that retirements are up 45% and resignations 18% when compared with the previous year.”
Entrepreneur Layla Bitoy-Dillon was hit with back-to-back burglaries in the same week of her reopening after surviving the global pandemic and economic shut down. She said, “They actually broke into the garage, vandalized the garage, pried open the security doors in the back, came into the store, ransacked everything,” causing approximately $100,000 worth of damage.
After not receiving any support Layla took to the media to get more attention saying, “initially when this happened to me on the 26th and the 28th I was met with deaf ears with no support or resources from my elected officials and/or the community based organizations…”
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Yet, even as crime rates surge across the nation, Democrat officials are astonishingly STILL pushing to defund the police. But the American people see right through the Democrats’ disastrous policies. Only 18% support defunding the police with 58% opposed. Even in the liberal Portland metro area, 74% of residents want policing to increase or stay the same.
Democrats fueled the movement to defund the police last summer and are squarely to blame for the results of this disastrous policy.
Now, even though the horrendous results of this movement have become evident, Democrats are doubling down on calls to defund police.
Bottom line: The failed leadership of so many Democrat-run cities continue to negatively impact Black communities in every way. On top of poorly performing schools, inflation, increased gas prices, closed businesses, open borders, BLM riots, and the pandemic, there is now a drastic increase in crime and violence. Democrat politicians need to stand up to radical far left groups and join Republicans in supporting policies that create safer Black communities.
Paris Dennard is the Republican National Committee’s national spokesman and director of Black media affairs. Follow him on Twitter: @ParisDennard.
