"Guys are jumping ship left and right." That was the response from a former member of the law enforcement community I spoke with this week. It’s sad and understandable but not surprising.
Democrats have surrendered to angry mobs, Astroturf political groups like Black Lives Matter and a news media egging it all on. Police brass are assenting to this behavior for the sake of keeping their jobs.
This anti-police movement isn’t about defunding police departments. The regulations being advanced by Democrats, now totally compromised by the far-left radical wing of their party, will result in massive police shortages that will put every community at risk.
And for all you woke, white, suburban residents who think all of this won’t impact your leafy communities, guess again. Your crime rate, your taxes, and your property values won’t be immune to the consequences. It’s an all-out war on cops and it will be catastrophic.
Since the death of George Floyd, Democrats have repeatedly demonstrated they aren’t just looking to reform or reduce funding for policing. They are looking to destroy policing — and people’s lives — for the sake of advancing their agenda.
Democrats have proven they don’t believe cops are largely good and courageous people who serve their communities at great risk. They believe they are a dangerous street gang that needs to be eliminated.
They will put the safety of not only the officers and their families, but also communities in the crosshairs to do it.
In just the last week, the New York City Council has advocated cutting more than $1 billion from the NYPD budget. This after the city’s first lady Chirlane McCray suggested that a city without cops would be "Nirvana."
The leadership of New York’s finest just announced they will be disbanding all of the undercover anti-crime units in the force. That’s right — no plain clothes officers in New York City except Detectives. Nonsensical moves like that hurt everyone, especially communities of color.
In Los Angeles, the LAPD is cutting $40 million overtime retroactively to March 1. Cops that worked overtime during the recent riots won’t be paid what they’re owed.
In New Jersey, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy issued an executive order authorizing the public release of all Internal Affairs investigations as well as names and personal information, regardless of the disposition of the complaint. The New Jersey State Police has indicated even their retired officers won’t be exempt from this unfair and debilitating exposure.
Back in New York, on a strict party-line vote, the state legislature repealed a law which prevents police disciplinary records from being made public without a court order. Governor Andrew Cuomo, gleefully signed the bill with the Rev. Al Sharpton by his side.
On Capitol Hill, Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer has stated he won’t support a police reform package that doesn’t abrogate Qualified Immunity for police officers. The House Democrats’ policing bill, likely to come to floor next week, gives suspects increased ability to sue cops.
Democrats in Congress are also supporting legislation that would create a national database of officers accused of bias or brutality. Like the New Jersey rules, they would be subject to public exposure, again, regardless of whether the accusations were deemed to have merit.
It should surprise no one that reliable Democratic campaign backers, the trial lawyers, would be handed a whole new bevy of laws in all this to create a target-rich environment to make millions.
These ideas are meant to do little but vilify an entire profession, prompt mass retirements and depress recruitment.
It’s already happening. Nineteen cops resigned from the Atlanta Police Department this week. Hundreds are putting in their retirement papers to the NYPD. Popular law enforcement Facebook pages have seen rampant discussion about leaving the profession.
The war on cops will also, likely necessitate the hiking of police salaries for those willing to risk their lives to keep communities safe, hiring more expensive contract personnel, and massive increases in insurance costs for municipalities.
Consider that a 10% reduction in recommended force strength can render a department ineffective. It is already 18 times more likely that a police officer is shot in the line of duty than shoots someone. All of these so-called reforms will make the job more dangerous.
These so-called reforms mean increases in de-policing. Cops, in many of our cities lack the support of liberal political leadership. Now, Democrats have thrown them to the mob to rip them to shreds. Many still left on the job will take fewer risks, make fewer arrests and count the days until retirement. That means more crime.
More dangerous streets. More dead civilians. More dead cops. More people moving from already high-cost, high-tax blue states to safer, more affordable places. Higher taxes and lower property values for those who remain.
Why? To perpetuate political control over minorities, through failed policies packaged as progress and empowerment. It’s nothing short of insidious.
Tom Basile has been part of the American political landscape from Presidential campaigns to local politics. He served in the Bush Administration from 2001-2004, as Executive Director of the NYS Republican Party and has held a range of senior-level communications roles in and out of government. His new book Let it Sink In: The Decade of Obama and Trump provides a look back at the 2010s to prepare us to defend freedom in the 2020s. His critically-acclaimed book, Tough Sell: Fighting the Media War in Iraq (Foreword by Amb. John R. Bolton), chronicles his time in Baghdad fighting media bias and driving coverage of the Iraq war. In 2011, he was featured in Time Magazine's Person of the Year spread about political activism around the world. Basile is an adjunct professor at Fordham University and runs a New York-based strategic communications firm. He is a member of the New York Bar and sits on a number of academic and philanthropic advisory boards. Learn more about him at TomBasile.com or follow him on Twitter @Tom_Basile. Read Tom Basile's Reports — More Here.
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