Call it reverse broken windows policing. Police are treated as criminals and criminals are exalted as oppressed and entitled to riot with no consequences for assaults and property damage. The result? Record shootings and homicides in some major cities. This is only the beginning.
The societal and cultural response to the killing of George Floyd is closely paralleling the response to coronavirus. Just as with the virus, the lockdown killed more people than the ailment itself, the rioting in response to George Floyd’s death will lead to thousands more deaths in the long run and is already directly and indirectly responsible for exponentially more murders – primarily of black citizens.
On Sunday, a record 18 people were killed in Chicago in the worst single day of violence in 60 years, since the University of Chicago’s crime lab began keeping records in 1961. In total, over the weekend, 92 were shot and 27 succumbed to their wounds. All of the pictures of the known victims indicate they were African-Americans. And unlike with coronavirus, nearly all the victims were very young with much more life to live. Who is going to kneel on the ground for them? Who is going to pass legislation deterring repeat violent offenders, ending bail and parole for career criminals, and prescribing tougher sentences on gun felons? Well, certainly not the people using George Floyd’s death to promote the exact opposite.
The reality is that at least 17 people have been killed so far during the riots. However, as we see from Chicago and other cities, an unknown number – possibly totaling in the hundreds – have died likely as the result of police taking a hands-off approach to their work. The results of the riots and the war on cops are more deadly for African-Americans than anything imaginable.
Here is an eyewitness account of downtown Chicago by anti-gun violence activist Rev. Michael Pfleger:
“On Saturday and particularly Sunday, I heard people saying all over, ‘Hey, there’s no police anywhere, police ain’t doing nothing,’” Pfleger said.
“I sat and watched a store looted for over an hour,” he added. “No police came. I got in my car and drove around to some other places getting looted [and] didn’t see police anywhere.”
Chicago is not even the most vivid example. In some ways, they have been experiencing a relative increase in violence for several years. New York is really where we are seeing the stark contrast. Thanks to the more aggressive policing first begun by Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New York City enjoyed a massive decline in violent crime for over two decades.
Now that is all being wiped out overnight by new jailbreak laws and the war on the NYPD. Last week, the city reported 13 murders, up from just five over the same week last year. Shootings have nearly doubled and property crime is up. On Monday night, seven people were shot in Brooklyn over a 10-minute period.
Why? Because police are getting beaten and can’t defend themselves lest they face prosecution. Over 300 NYPD officers have been injured in the riots. Few will see justice. In Los Angeles, the prosecutor announced that few rioters will face charges and all those who violated curfew will be free from criminal charges. In Chicago alone, in just nine days, 2,665 arrests have been made for civil unrest and disorderly, 788 arrests for looting, and 525 guns recovered. Watch for the same people who claim to abhor guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens to suddenly ignore these gun crimes.
What is the point of being a cop in America today? According to the FBI, in 2018, there were 58,866 assaults against law enforcement officers, resulting in 18,005 injuries. You almost never heard about them. God knows how many are taking place today. The resignations and retirements will continue while new recruitment will be nonexistent. The ones who don’t resign will be fired unless they kneel to the mob, like one police chief in Michigan who was forced out after voicing support for people engaging in open carry to protect their families from the politically untouchable rioters.
By far, according to the FBI, the most common circumstance leading to a cop injury is a disturbance call. Police are responding to help and protect other citizens. Now they will just take a hands-off approach and come to do the paperwork.
The question President Trump and Republicans must start asking is what level of killings, injuries, and property damage is acceptable before they begin pushing an active pro-enforcement agenda with as much passion and energy as the Left is pushing anarchy?
