Defunding the Police Would Be a Disaster for the City of Phoenix
By the Free Enterprise Club |
Be careful what you wish for. Maybe it’s time for someone to tell that to Mayor Gallego and several other members of the Phoenix City Council.
In case you missed it, last week the council approved a civilian “oversight” office of the police in a 5-4 vote. The Office of Accountability and Transparency, which Mayor Gallego referred to as a “national best practice,” will cost taxpayers nearly $4 million.
In reality, this new office has nothing to do with “accountability” or “transparency.” If it did, then Mayor Gallego and other members of the far left would be honest that this office is nothing more than a politicized endeavor designed to undermine the police. And ultimately, they want to use it to help build momentum toward what the far left really wants: imposing progressive policies in the police department and defunding the police.
But maybe Mayor Gallego ought to check her definition of “national best practice.” Because around the country, efforts to defund the police haven’t exactly gone so well.
Cities at the forefront of the “defund the police” movement, have seen dramatic increases in crime rates and mass departures of police officers. Even CNN can’t help but acknowledge it!
Take Seattle for example. You may remember this major American city being referred to as CHAZ or CHOP during the Black Lives Matter riots last summer. Under pressure to cut police spending, the Seattle City Council redistributed nearly 20% of its police budget this past November. And what was the result? A dramatic increase in homicides and shootings so far in 2021. And this comes after a similar increase in 2020!