Once again, radical leftist polices and narratives have backfired on the communities they claimed to be protecting.
Minneapolis, the city which birthed the radical “Defund the Police” movement, is up in arms about the increasing levels of criminal violence.
The conviction of officer Derek Chauvin on charges of second- and third-degree murder understandably weakened Minneapolis’ police resolve.
Even a recent CNN article described the city’s “sinking morale in the wake of the unrest after Floyd’s killing” and went on to reference the dramatic loss of officers, stating, “[L]eaders 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.”
Naturally, the dramatic reduction in policing staff has had negative effects on the largely black Minneapolis communities.
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The same CNN article stated that “…wait times have grown for people who call 911 to report serious ‘priority 1’ incidents, which can include shots fired, robberies, assaults and mental health crises. … The perception among many residents is that the police ignore the area.”
According to CNN, 93 people were murdered in Minneapolis last year, doubled from 2019 and “just a few shy of the total killings in 1995, when the city earned the nickname ‘Murderapolis.’”
Resident Paul Johnson described the area in the north side of the city as nothing short of lawless. “You pull up to get gas — they try to sell you drugs. And not just three or four, but it’s a bulk of people,” he explained.
And where there are drugs being sold, there are rival gangs willing to use violence to control who sells them. This violence is tragically affecting the most innocent among these neighborhoods.
Should cities face repercussions for leaving citizens unprotected by law enforcement?
CNN interviewed a long-time resident of Minneapolis, KG Wilson, who tragically lost his six-year-old granddaughter to this rampant violence when she was struck by crossfire from rival gangs in North Minneapolis just this last year. Her murderer is still at large.
Wilson is not the first victim of such mindless violence, and some neighborhoods in these black majority areas are now trying to increase MPD presence in their neighborhoods in lieu of the soaring crime levels.
The Minneapolis Post reported on a new “buyback” program through the city. There is “new program created by the MPD whereby neighborhoods can schedule more police patrols if residents pay for the overtime costs that the city won’t fund.”
Despite the damage having already been done, Minnesota Democrats who vehemently pushed for “police reform” in the form of kangaroo court trials, slashing of budgets and media slander are quickly changing their tune with the November mid-terms looming.
Democratic Governor Tim Walz, according to the Star Tribune, is laughably “framing himself as a tough-on-crime supporter of law enforcement as he seeks re-election.”
This coming from the same governor who ordered the surrender of Minneapolis’ Third Police Precinct to a mob of rioters, a question he recently ignored answering, according to “Alpha News.”
This is also the same governor who let the city itself be burned and looted for three days before calling in the National Guard.
Even the staunchly left-leaning Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey turned on the governor’s handling of the rioting.
The Washington Examiner quoted Frey: “Walz was hesitating.” The mayor “called it a ‘hit in the gut’ to see Walz’s team call his response an ‘abject failure’ while slow-walking the call to the National Guard.”
Even President Biden, who has jumped at nearly every opportunity to support the radical “Defund the Police” movement, stated in February of this year, “The answer is not to abandon our streets. That’s not the answer,” Fox News reported.
Biden’s vague and meaningless statement came during a trip to New York City “after thousands of uniformed police officers from across the nation traveled to Manhattan to pay their respects to fallen NYPD Detectives Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, who were shot and killed while responding to a domestic violence call [the previous] month.”
Despite all the pandering and finger pointing that Democratic leadership loves to engage in, their progressive policies are not only ineffective but dangerous. And no amount of campaign slogans or empty promises will bring back the lives lost by these foolish ideals.
