‘Unintended Consequences’: NBC Shocked Defund the Police Hurt Lib City

Like a child who’s about to touch the stovetop for the first time, NBC Nightly NewsThey were shocked to learn that the Defund the Police movement which they supported in Vermont actually caused harm to the liberal stronghold Burlington. Correspondent Stephanie Gosk was shocked to discover the “unintended consequences” of cutting the police department’s budget by 30 percent, leaving people feeling unsafe.

“In Burlington, Vermont roll call looks a little different than it used to,” she announced as she began the report. “Often For a city with more than 44,000 inhabitants, only five officers work on the shift The police force was reduced by 30 percent after Burlington’s leadership. Essentially imposing a hiring freeze.”

The network joined ABC and CBS in engaging in this experiment, which led to the result. Orwellian doublespeak last summer and tried to tell Americans that “defund the police” didn’t actually mean defunding the police.

“Tonight, across the country, there is a growing movement to defund police departments. What does this mean exactly? Well, apparently not the same thing to everybody,” wondered anchor Lester Holt on June 8, 2020.

Correspondent Morgan Radford answered Holt moments later, saying: “The movement calls for cutting down police budgets and reinvesting that money into services for marginalized communities.”

Gosk even spoke with a City Council member who supported the move and admitted that “absolutely” there were “unintended consequences,” when prompted. Gosk also talked to a local businessman who stated that he felt unsafe living in the city with his family. Gosk was stunned:

GOSK – Mark Buchet has owned the home goods shop for 35 years with his family. According to him, the police could not respond fast enough to disturbances and would rather prioritize more serious calls. His staff and he felt their absence.

BUCHET: I said, “we don’t feel safe in the evenings.” And that —

GOSK: In Burlington, Vermont?!

BUCHET: In Burlington, Vermont.

Gosk continued to argue that the police were racists and should have their budget cut, even though she was confronted with the defunding results. “Burlington police data shows black drivers have long been disproportionately stopped and then searched. And there were recent controversies of use of force involving black men and people with mental health issues,” she said.

Acting Police Chief Jon Murad described how the criticism of the department requests for change “had real merit,” but recalled that the moves against them were not being done “with any kind of specificity or deliberation.”

“The exit interviews have been pretty clear that it was about a lack of support in a political sense and a sense of saying that, ‘I — this is not how I want to serve anymore. I don’t feel valued,’” Murad added. And he described the Defund the Police movement as “a grand experiment on a national and local level that’s gone awry.”

You can find the transcript below. To read it, please click on “expand”.

NBC Nightly News
December 16, 2021
Eastern, 7:19:29

LESTER HOLT: We are back with Future of the Force. Only a few cities did this in 2020 as the calls for defunding police grew. What are the results of these innovative approaches? Stephanie Gosk explores a police reform experiment in one city.

[Cuts to video]

STEPHANIE GoSK: Burlington’s roll call is a bit different from it was in years past. After Burlington cut its police force nearly 30%, only five officers work shifts in a city with more than 44,000 people. This effectively imposed a hiring freeze.

JON MURRAD (Burlington Vermont’s acting police chief). We received a huge number of calls for change in policing. Saying, “we don’t want police to participate in certain kinds of calls for service. We don’t want as many police.” All of which had real merit, but none of which was being done with any kind of specificity or deliberation.

GOSK: The City Council decided to allocate a portion of their police budget for social and racial programs in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. But the departures of working officers were much faster than we expected. It was only 64 people who left in such a short amount of time. Many left feeling like the city was against them.

They were able to tell you the reason.

MURAD:

GOSK: Tell us what they have said.

MURAD: The exit interviews have been pretty clear that it was about a lack of support in a political sense and a sense of saying that, “I — this is not how I want to serve anymore. I don’t feel valued.”

GOSK Counselor Zoraya Hightower believed that reform was long overdue.

ZORAYA HILLTOWER, city councilor: All these problems led up to George Floyd’s murder and the subsequent pandemic. We saw it as a global problem. This was our problem.

Burlington police data reveal that many black drivers were stopped and checked for illegal driving. There have been recent controversy surrounding forceful use in cases involving black men or people suffering from mental disorders.

HIGHTOWER – We are a fairly good police department but that’s a very low standard when you consider American policing. We have great police officers, who I believe are dedicated to the cause. The outcomes are more important than the people.

GOSK: Some routine patrols were topped by fewer officers.

MARC BUCHET

GOSK – Mark Buchet has owned the home goods shop for 35 years with his family. According to him, the police could not respond fast enough to disturbances and would rather prioritize more serious calls. His staff and he felt their absence.

BUCHET: I said, “we don’t feel safe in the evenings.” And that —

GOSK: In Burlington, Vermont?!

BUCHET: In Burlington, Vermont.

GOSK – It has taken its toll upon those who have remained.

Is there a moral at Burlington Police Department right now?

SGT. DAN DELAGO, BPD: The vehicle is in bad shape. Officers and my frustrations over the lack of effectiveness in police work are all valid.

GOSK: After realizing that there was an issue, the City Council voted this fall to reinstate more officers.

HIGHTOWER – We are in a position that nobody expected us to be in.

GOSK: There are unintended consequences.

HIGHTOWER: Oh, absolutely.

GOSK: Social workers were hired by the department to deal with mental health issues and other community concerns. Chief Jon Murad now works to rebuild his ranks.

MURAD – We do not want to defund. We are committed to funding. It is costly to have good policing. That has proved to be both a failed experiment at the national and local levels.

GOSK: Stephanie Gosk, NBC News, Burlington.