The Democrats have been calling for defunding and disbanding police departments around the country. Despite Democratic campaign ads to the contrary, Joe Biden has been one of those politicians who has “absolutely” called for the defunding of the police. Minneapolis has already voted to disband their police department. Police departments in many urban centers have been neutered to the point where they are little more than posters on a wall.
What has been the effect in Portland where the mayor joined with rioters trying to breach the federal courthouse there? Since July, 49 officers have retired and nine others have resigned. Portland police normally have 310 officers on patrol divided among three precincts. So, roughly 20% of Portland’s Police force has left. And most of these are officers with tons of experience and knowledge and training. For a variety of reasons including the coronavirus pandemic, one-third of the patrol officers do not have complete training.
With the ongoing riots and protests, this has led to a significant manpower shortage. OregonLive reports,
The priority now is to respond to emergency calls “when there’s an active threat or a life safety issue,” he said, often leaving 80 to 100 lower priority calls holding during mass gatherings or what have been regular protests.
How’s that working out? Perhaps this incident is instructive.
Henry Kirim had ducked out of his Southeast Portland apartment to search his car for a missing bank card when a strange man rushed into his ground-floor unit, closed the door and locked it.
Kirim’s 12-year-old son remained inside.
Kirim fumbled for his house key, thankful he had it on the same ring as his car key, and raced to open his apartment door.
“I was so scared,” he said.
The next 10 minutes unfolded in a blur on Aug. 22. The stranger grabbed a kitchen knife. Kirim’s petrified son managed to dart out of the apartment. Kirim followed and started yelling for neighbors to help. When the man eventually fled, several residents gave chase and cornered him nearby.
How long did it take for the police to arrive? Isn’t this an active threat or life safety issue? It took 1 hour and 36 minutes for a police officer to show up. This is what happens when a politician (and there are many such politicians) decides to curry favor with rioters and anarchists. Good police leave the ranks. And most police are good police.
How many people will die and be injured because the Democrats want to cozy up to Antifa, BLM and other would be anarchists? There is only one choice on November 3rd. And it’s not the empty vessel that Joe Biden has become.