COVID-19 may prove to be the most profound and impactful thing people all over the world remember about 2020, but for Americans there was a close second: the toxic combination of rising crime and calls for radical police reform.
On this week’s Drill Down, Peter Schweizer, Eric Eggers, and Jason Chaffetz examine the intersection of COVID-19 relief spending and the push by some Democrats to defund their local police departments by asking where, precisely, is all this money going?
While crime has been falling all across America for decades, 2020 saw sporadic spikes in violent crime, particularly domestic violence, in many US cities as the pandemic forced many local communities into shutting down schools and businesses.
This reversal in historic trends was further inflamed by the uproar following the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, even riots, all across the country. Activists in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party began calling for a range of changes including “defunding the police.” Bowing to public outcry, several major US cities decided to have a go at defunding law enforcement.
Seattle cut funding by 20%, Chicago eliminated 400 officer positions, and Baltimore slashed its police budget by $22 million. But crime has not reverted back to prior trends.
Curiously, and conveniently, some cities such as Chicago, were able to refund their police with COVID relief spending.
It is still too early to know which crime trends are COVID-lockdown related versus police funding related, but these recent crime spikes and funding sleights-of-hand have left many, where does the Democratic Party stand on policing?
