America’s newest bumper sticker, "Defund the Police," emanated from Antifa and Black Lives Matter activists in response to the killing of George Floyd by a rogue Minneapolis police officer, and without surprise, leftist politicians are giving in to the rioters’ demands.
If they want to see what results from emasculating law enforcement, they should look to what happened in London, England, when a mob of Black Lives Matter rioters stormed a large group of unarmed London police officers.
They turned tail running for safety.
What began as a mostly peaceful anti-racism demonstration quickly turned violent as thousands descended on Whitehall, hurling bottles, rocks, and bricks, and setting off fireworks, leaving officers bleeding, the Daily Mail reported.
Sky News senior news editor Tyrone Francis posted a video on Twitter depicting one protester hurling a bicycle at the group of police officers gathered together as another hit an officer with a broomstick.
Things quickly escalated from there after the police attempted to arrest one of the rioters.
In a second video posted by Francis, the rioters give chase to the police who "seek refuge inside the Foreign Office"
Rioters can be seen hurling rocks and bottles at the fleeing officers.
The BBC had a different interpretation, however. It reported that although "27 police officers [were] injured" during the melee, the events were nonetheless "largely peaceful anti-racism protests."
"Largely peaceful" despite "27 police officers injured"?
How does that work, exactly?
That’s just a hint of what U.S. cities would have to look forward to by cutting their funding for police protection and neutering law enforcement.
Nevertheless, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was the latest politician to cater to this insanity. He announced Sunday that he will divert funding from "New York’s finest" into other city programs.
Although long on promises, he was characteristically short on detail.
"We’re committed to seeing a shift of funding to youth services, to social services, that will happen literally in the course of the next three weeks, but I’m not going to go into detail because it is subject to negotiation and we want to figure out what makes sense," the mayor said.
Minneapolis is taking it further. After Mayor Jacob Frey was shouted down and told to "go home" in response to his refusal to cater to a mob’s demand that he disband the police department, a veto-proof majority of the city council vowed to do exactly that.
Conservative commentators had their own ideas, beginning with actor James Woods.
Rather than defunding law enforcement entirely, he suggested an "opt-out" program.
Those who opt-out of police protection "should then have a mandatory government notice posted on their homes that they 'Proudly Opt Out' and that their homes are 'Proud Gun Free' zones." he said.
Talk radio host and author Mark Levin had yet another idea:
"Due to systemic racism in law enforcement, and the disbanding of the police in our cities, I suggest we pull all security protection from Biden, Obama, Bush, Pelosi & Schumer," he tweeted. "For their own sakes. I also suggest we pull the Capitol Police from Congress."
He then called for pulling security from the U.S. Supreme Court, sports events, and the Hollywood enclaves of Beverly Hills and Brentwood.
But on a serious note, my Asian friend Samantha, who’s a writer living in Manhattan’s fashionable Upper East Side, predicted that a drop in police protection would bring with it an end to society.
"No one's saying this out loud but these riots will ignite mass white flight and leave once-thriving cities as broken ghettos," she said, adding that she would also leave in such an event, suggesting it’s not just "white flight."
And as New Yorkers flee so would the city’s tax base.
Appeasing the mob would not only prove devastating to American society, it would be a political liability to de Blasio and any other politician who takes the mob seriously.
Respondents were asked during a Monmouth University poll released last week "How satisfied are you with the job your local police department does?" A full 72% of African Americans indicated that they were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied.
A Yahoo News / YouGov poll released last week found that "Despite calls by activists and protesters to defund police departments, most Americans do not support reducing law enforcement budgets. Close to two-thirds (65%) oppose cutting police force funding. Just 16 percent of Democrats and 15 percent of Republicans support that idea."
But yeah, go ahead and dismantle police departments, reduce law enforcement budgets and de-weaponize officers. Then watch them run for safety at every confrontation and witness the streets come under control of the mobs.
Then years from now, grandparents can tell their grandchildren what life was like back when people strolled the streets and greeted their neighbors in safety and without fear.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.