The Democratic Party aggressively promoted the idea of ‘defunding the police’ after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer in 2020, which was supposed to improve public safety. A few years later, a new study found the homicide rate in Democrat cities is on the rise and a sign progressive policies are failing.
In a study published by WalletHub, researchers found “homicide rates have risen by an average of roughly 10% in 45 of the most populated U.S. cities between Q1 2021 and Q1 2023, and are still rising.”
The cities with the biggest homicide rate problems include Memphis, Tennesse; New Orleans, Louisana; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, DC; and Detroit, Michigan. Democrat mayors lead all five cities.
Researchers pointed out that murders were rising faster in Democrat-led cities than Republican-led cities.
Separately, Chidike Okeem, an assistant professor at Western New England University, told the NYPost that defunding the police movements directly correlates with the rise in violence.
“As a response to the social unrest, some officers have embraced ‘de-policing,’ which is the idea of not engaging in proactive policing practices in order to avoid increased scrutiny and censure. Without pronounced police presence, violence proliferates,” Okeem said.
A University of Central Missouri Professor, Gregg Etter, went further and blamed no-cash bail as a significant driver in the alarming rise of homicide rates in major cities.
“If you have a problem with police use of force in isolated instances, rather than deal with the problem or the problem officers, defund the police. This results in a less-effective police force, increased response times, lower police morale, and an increasing unwillingness by the police to engage in proactive policing,” Etter said.
And it’s not just homicide rates that are moving higher. Retail thefts and carjackings are soaring. Democrats have yet to take accountability for their failed social justice reforms. As a result, businesses and people are quickly exiting these dangerous cities for safer places.
