Here’s the Perfect Example of What a Failure ‘Defund the Police’ Is – Opinion

Over the last year and half, Democrats have pushed for defunding of police. You even had people like Kamala Harris applauding the defunding — cutting millions — from the Los Angeles police.

But when some cities caved and started cutting back on the police, it didn’t end well. One of those cities was Burlington, Vermont — not a city that people necessarily think of as a high crime area. The defunding caused a significant decrease in the security of police departments, resulting in residents and businesses feeling unsafe at night.

Far-left Democrats in Burlington, Vermont defunded the police in favor of “social and racial justice programs” and social workers.

However, the devastating consequences were felt quickly by the city. pic.twitter.com/xD96nScaot

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 17, 2021

“Often just five officers are on shift for a city of more than 44,000 after Burlington’s leaders cut the police force by nearly 30 percent.” How can you cover all those people with that small a force? Of course, you couldn’t and hence, the problems. They stopped their routine patrols.

The routine patrols were stopped and the morale fell.

“We don’t feel safe in the evenings,” one resident said. pic.twitter.com/SKBUEpfR9E

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 17, 2021

Then, not surprisingly, their officers left faster than anticipated because they didn’t feel supported in such an atmosphere and the officers who stayed had low morale. “It’s in rough shape,” one officer said, explaining that they didn’t feel they could police as effectively as they once could.

They hired social workers to deal with some of the calls, but again, not surprisingly there was still “a problem” and there were “unintended consequences.” Now they’re trying to hire officers back.

Morale plummeted and routine patrols were stopped.

“We don’t feel safe in the evenings,” one resident said. pic.twitter.com/SKBUEpfR9E

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 17, 2021

The acting police chief, John Murad, said that what they needed to do was fund the police; that the defund movement was a “grand experiment” that on a “national and local level” has “gone awry.”

No kidding. It was obvious that this was an awful idea. It was obvious. It may serve as an example of how not to act, but every rational city official would have realized that this was a bad idea. The majority of Americans understood the concept and strongly opposed it.

But liberals thought they’d bring in social workers, everyone would sing “Kumbaya,” hug, and crime would just melt away. They faced the hard truth that isn’t reality. They may now be facing the problem of who will work for them, knowing that their willingness to commit such poor moves. If they are already so ignorant, how secure will you be in your job? They were able to come to terms with their situation and have begun to address it. Some other liberal politicians and liberal cities still haven’t learned their lesson. They can take Burlington’s example as an illustration.