Defunding the Police May Have Negative Consequences

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Darrell Castle talks about the movement to defund the police in many of our progressive Democrat cities and some of the consequences that are developing from the movement.

Transcription / Notes:

DEFUNDING THE POLICE MAY HAVE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Today is Friday July 3, 2020 the day before the 4^th of July when in years past we have celebrated our nation’s founding. My office is closed today in honor of Independence Day, but I maintain my lonely vigil high atop the streets of my city. I will be talking about the movement to defund the police in many of our progressive Democrat cities and some of the consequences that are developing from that movement. For the Castle Family everything is just fine as we struggle on against the effects of the virus. The family daughter still stuck but safe thousands of miles away.

In honor of the 4^th I will make this a little shorter today, but I need to say a few words about big city police forces and what is happening to them as they go out each day to face the most violent and relentless people among us.

My observation after more than 40 years of working within the legal system in my city of Memphis, Tennessee as well as other cities around the country is that the authority figures from judges to mayors want and need the support of the police forces in their city. They always have, at least until now, given the police the benefit of the doubt.

The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis changed that perspective and city leaders in Democrat cities across the country, perhaps caught up in the moment, began to speak out against the police. People were and are upset, not with individual officers but the police in general. Calls to defund them in many places and calls for disbanding them in others became the order of the day. Police morale plummeted as the officers began to feel the city and people, they risked their lives to protect, turning their backs on them. Many officers across the country felt like they were being held responsible for what four officers in Minneapolis had done.

Since this whole movement started in Minneapolis let’s look at that city first. After the George Floyd killing, the city council voted 9 to 0 to completely abolish the city’s police department. The vote will require a referendum on the ballot for popular vote in November, but such a vote must have been devastating for police morale. The council quickly voted to fund a private security force for themselves at a cost of $4500 per day each. They deliver the chaos to others through their grandstanding, but sure don’t want to be subject to it themselves. The officers repeatedly expressed the view that they had been abandoned by the city and its people. Those veteran officers eligible for early retirement went ahead and retired and many others just resigned.

The president of the police union offered to resign but the officers convinced him not to. The executive director of the Minnesota police association said “Leadership really needs to turn and luck in the mirror. At the state level, at the city level, nobody’s doing that right now.” The result was that the murder rate in Minneapolis skyrocketed virtually overnight. With police not answering calls or at least very few calls the people of Minneapolis apparently decided to amuse themselves by killing each other.

Out in Seattle the summer of love turned into the summer of murder, rape, and robbery much to the chagrin of Mayor Jenny Durkin. She finally ordered the police force to dismantle the foreign country established in the middle of her city. She makes the mess and her much maligned police force clean it up.

In New York City mayor De Blasio always has his ear to the ground listening for the rumbles of warnings of evolving progressive agenda items. He came under pressure to defund the police and on his own authority the NYC police are now absent about one billion dollars in funding. The immediate result was that more than 100 people were shot in NYC last week. How many of them died, its hard to know for sure but it looks like about 15? Twelve more people were shot last Tuesday night which is the last day I could find any numbers. Many officers resigned and hundreds took early retirement from the NYPD.

In Atlanta we find the same story with a slightly different twist. You are probably all familiar with the police shooting outside an Atlanta Wendy’s. That officer was charged with murder before the investigation was complete. Atlanta has a black mayor, a black police chief, and 60% of the Atlanta police force is black. These officers were adamant that the city leadership and the people no longer had their backs, so they just stopped answering calls. The only calls being responded to were calls where an officer was in trouble or needed help. In other words, they responded to defend their own but not the population. The result of the refusal to answer calls was that from 6 pm Friday the 26^th until midnight Sunday, just one weekend, 17 people were killed on the streets of Atlanta.

In Los Angeles police morale is reportedly at an all-time low especially among the rank and file on patrol. According to Breitbart News they feel abandoned by the mayor, all but three of the city council members, as well as the business owners and residents of the city. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced at the height of the riots in June, that he was cutting $150 million from the police budget. Officers are resigning and taking early retirement when it is available and as a result violent crime is increasing.

There is no proactive police work to prevent crime now, only efforts to clean up the mess it leaves behind. Recruiting is down and resignations are up so the police are helping the city defund them. The Hollywood set may get what they want eventually then we will see how they like it. I forget though, they are insulated from the chaos they inflicted on others because of their gates, walls, and most importantly armed guards.

St. Louis Missouri appears to be another out of control racial conflict zone. A few nights ago, a group of people went down to the St. Louis cathedral which has a statue of Louis ix for which the city was named to pray for the city and the cathedral. They were assaulted by an angry mob which was apparently angry just because these were white people. The police were called six different times with no response. Young black people can be seen shooting at other young black people during the daytime protests. The focus of the governing authorities in St. Louis seems to be directed toward a white couple standing outside their home with guns during the protest rather than the violence infecting their city.

As usual folks I saved the best for last and the best goes hands down to the great Democrat city of Chicago. The police in Chicago stood down a long time ago after many attempts to police the south side were rebuffed. In June 557 people were shot and 91 were killed on the streets of Chicago. 91 people dead in one 30-day month is just too incredible to comprehend. The south side of Chicago is literally an out of control war zone, but the mayor says there is nothing she can do but let her streets run red.

In conclusion, Democrat mayors and city councils have been responsible for the deaths of many black people since all this started. Refusal to allow city police forces to work proactively and actively conveys responsibility for those deaths to the city government. There are ways to curtail crime and save lives, but it requires the cooperation of leadership and the will of the people. People must decide if they want to reduce crime and have a safer and more pleasant place to live or not. Would they rather appease the mob and the preening Hollywood types and the wealthy athlete types than protect their residents? Remember that those who advise defunding the police are usually not those in the path of violent criminals.

Changes in police training and training in how to deescalate without deadly force I would be very much in favor of. The method of proactive policing that would immediately save lives cannot be done because it disproportionately affects black people, and it is a clear violation of the 4^th amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches. That method is called stop and frisk which has been proven to reduce violent crime but for the reasons I have mentioned can’t be done. I suppose its better to just let them kill each other than it is to make difficult non-progressive decisions.

Finally, folks, stop and frisk would probably save hundreds of lives each year, but to really affect crime long term would take an effort over a couple of generations at least. We, as a people, would have to stop incentivizing the breakup and destruction of the human family. Have a great 4^th of July folks and stay safe.

At least that’s the way I see it.

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.