While the issue has been largely ignored, it is no secret that the United States has recently seen a very large increase in violent crime, the highest since the 90s. Surprised? When police are maligned and defunded across the nation, criminals commit more crimes. It only makes sense.
In the state of California, where government officials will gleefuly arrest citizens for the crime of swimming in the ocean, a new plan is inbound: the freeing of over 76,000 criminals from the prison system “with little notice” (AP). The 63,000 inmates who have been convicted of violent crimes will now be granted the special privilege of reducing their sentence by a third, increased from the the previous 20 percent reductions just a few years ago.
These changes to the California prison system were approved as part of an emergency declaration by the state. This comes after other recent moves to release California convicts, as well as recent prison closures just last month. Coupled with Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón barring prosecutors from pushing sentencing for almost 20,000 criminals (including gang members), officials of the state appear to consider criminals a huge part of their constituency, as opposed to regular law-abiding citizens.
All this is going on while many parts of the country see historically high rates of police officers leaving the force in numbers. The NYPD, the largest metro police force in the country, saw a 75% increase in retirements in 2020. 2,600 officers quit and 2,746 filed for retirement, amounting to 15% of the NYPD. Who could blame them? When your own city defunds over a billion dollars from you and many want more, it can be hard to feel welcome. Unsurprisingly, New York City has also seen record highs in murders and other violent crimes.
The sad truth is, things may very well get worse before they get better, especially given recent trends. As a police officer from the now-infamous city of Minneapolis once said: “We’re getting fed up. All of us. And there’s only a few of us left that really want to work for the city. We’re not gonna be here. We’re gonna all leave. So this is gonna get worse before it gets better.”
