Connect The Dots – Anti-Police Activism and Crime

Remember the old game “connect the dots?” Or “matching game,” two columns, you link similar words? Identifying analogies, “A is to B, as C is to D?” Games remind us to think – not to accept what we read, see, and hear. In a world awash in false narratives, replacing truth with fiction, reason with emotion, drifting from logic, history, and truth, they still teach us.

Try “connect the dots.” Nationwide, big cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Cleveland, Los Vegas, and smaller cities, like Rochester (New York), Portland (Oregon), Tucson (Arizona), led “defund police” activism. They are paying for it now – big time.

These Democrat-led cities, quick on the “defund” bandwagon, swiftly demoralized their police forces, killed recruiting, accelerated retirement, triggered resignations, fractured relationships between municipal, state, and federal law enforcement, and worse – between citizens and law enforcement.

Talking with officers in different locations, their stories are similar. Highly motivated, selfless personnel, those who came to the profession with a full heart, are leaving. Essential operating budgets, and lifesaving backup, are depleted, major programs deconstructed, academies half-full, officers dishonored.

The Democrat-led “defund” campaign, which pushed disrespect for the law, rolling riots, destruction of private property, sanctuary cities, open borders, partisan attacks on ICE, CBP, DEA, spread like wildfire.

Why, and who continues to fuel that fire, is another question – one that leads to domestic and international sources of instability, abetted by local, state, and federal politicians, who aim to gain by undermining the law. They are wrong, of course. Chaos begets chaos. Reflection and reform are not advanced with violence.

But now, let us connect the dots. What effect has this wild-eyed activism, disrespect for law and order, had in these locations? A few data points make for good dot-connecting.

Consider just the rocketing homicide rates – even for 2021 – recorded in the above cities.

These numbers – and their incontrovertible connection to anti-law enforcement activism – should be more than sobering. They should make security-minded citizens nauseous.

Nationwide, homicides were up 30 percent last year. They are up another 24 percent in the first six months of 2021 since Biden-Harris took office.

Look at the one-year jump in homicides – across anti-police activist cities: In Chicago up 24 percent, Los Angeles 36 percent, New York City 18, Washington DC 17, Atlanta 16.7, St. Louis 69.4, Baltimore 51.1, Detroit 39.7, New Orleans 40.6, Cleveland 33.7, Las Vegas 31.4 and even in smaller cities, like Rochester (per capita rate at a record, exceeding Chicago) Portland, Oregon (six times the homicides in 2020), Tucson (up 76 percent). See, With Homicides Rising, Cities Brace for a Violent Summer; One city ‘ready to explode’ as US murder rates surge in pandemic; Cities With Most Murders 2021; NYPD Announces Citywide Crime Statistics for April 2021; Rochester Homicide Statistics for 2020.

What do these numbers tell us? As Democrat-led cities, states, and congressional members push to defund police, they directly undermine the rule of law, demoralizing departments, officers, and citizens, seeding wider distrust, empowering criminals. The numbers do not lie; just connect the dots.

So profound is this Democrat-led delegitimizing of law enforcement that crime is spikes are being recorded across all types of violent crime, and left-leaning media outlets can no longer mask the fact. Thus, even CNN is compelled to report “63 of the 66 largest police jurisdictions saw increases in at least one category of violent crimes in 2020, which include homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.”

And numbers keep getting worse, with most of the foregoing cities on track to exceed 2020 in 2021. See The US saw significant crime rise across major cities in 2020. And it’s not letting up.

So, when the Vice President laughs at the linkage, at border security, at citizen interest in legally owning firearms for self-protection, and when the Biden White House says the Republicans voted to “defund” police – because many opposed the gargantuan, two-trillion-dollar, March 2021 federal giveaway, the so-called American Rescue Plan, with toss-off money for local grants – just stop. And connect the dots.

Republicans have long been advocates for rule of law, equality before the law, legal restraint, sanctity of borders, multi-jurisdictional cooperation, counter-narcotics, and respect for both citizen rights and officers’ dignity.

They understand – and always have – that respect for police relates to crime rates. Well-trained, funded, and respected law enforcement deters crime; underfunded police promote it.

How about that “matching game?” Levels of anti-police activism correlate – you could draw lines column to column – to levels of violent and property crime, numbers and intensity of violent riots, damage done to businesses, perceptions of personal security, reduced tax base, lost confidence in the law. Why is that? Because facts matter, and basic constructs for matching cause and effect work.

Finally, how about logic, fitting analogies? They are countless but trust when your mind alights on one, that it may be right.

Destroying confidence in and support for law enforcement affects the rule of law, crime rates, and public confidence – as destruction of any institution undermines what it promotes. This is not wizardry, brilliance, or anything but common sense. It is not a game, but games remind us to trust what we know – when we stop to think.