The Daily Signal put out a report Thursday highlighting how several liberal cities are coping with law enforcement shortages five years after the “defund the police” movement began. It is not going well.
“Zohran Mamdani, the self-described socialist and New York City Democrat mayoral candidate, and other notable Democrats are distancing themselves from the now-unpopular call to reduce police presence on city streets as recent violence in Cincinnati and Manhattan places public safety back in the spotlight,” the article read.
It then listed areas of the country that have taken some of the biggest hits.
First up: New York.
“According to data from the New York Police Department, more than 1,000 officers left the department in the first three months of 2025, an increase in retirements of 91 percent from 2024 numbers,” the story continued.
That’s staggering. Especially with how strict gun control laws are in blue cities, law-abiding citizens are less likely to carry a legally owned firearm for protection.
Democratic Mayor Eric Adams was forced to take steps back in April of 2024 to restore some of the police academy classes that had initially been cut, just to help stop the bleeding, The New York Post reported.
Number two is Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. But it seems their love for police is waning. The Daily Signal reported the city has its smallest police force since 1985.
Philly is run by yet another Democratic mayor, Cherelle Parker, so it’s no surprise that their police force has been gutted.
Do you think wokeness as the country knew it in recent years is dead?
As of January, they had about 1,100 vacant officer positions, The Philadelphia Citizen reported. Commissioner Kevin Bethel said, “We’re in one of the most challenging periods.”
The windy city of Chicago clocks in at number three. They’re short about 1,300 officers, according to a May article by American Police Beat, a news magazine covering law enforcement topics.
Toward the end of 2024, The Chicago-Sun Times published a story with the headline: “Chicago Police Department exodus: New cops are leaving in droves, Sun-Times investigation finds.”
The newspaper described how “one of every six Chicago cops hired since 2016 is no longer on the payroll.”
“Their average time with the department? Not even three years,” the story added. “Many moved to suburban police departments.” I’m sure being disrespected, vilified, and having to deal with violent gangs was more than enough to send them packing.
Coming in at number four is Cincinnati. The city was in the news just last week following the savage beating of a white couple by a black mob.
The aftermath of the assault was equally insane, when Police Chief Teresa Theetge blamed social media users and reporters for sharing the video of the incident “without context.”
In equally horrifying fashion, Councilwoman Victoria Parks wrote on Facebook that the victims “begged for that beat down,” adding that she was “grateful for the whole story.”
Good leadership is vital for a strong police force.
So when the chief takes such a vitriolic stance in public, it shows that the officers there have no one to follow. In addition, the city’s current police force is reportedly overworked.
City Council members have expressed concerns about this, with local leader Seth Walsh telling WKRC-TV in June: “Talk to any police officer, talk to any citizen out there. We need more officers, period.”
“The officers we have now are overworked,” he added. “They’re stretched too thin. We don’t have enough for the bare minimum from the city. We need more police officers.”
Finally, Pittsburgh rounds out the field at number five. The city is headed for a 20-year low in police staffing this year, The Daily Signal reported. Their number of police officers has been dwindling since 2019, with no signs of stopping.
America’s law enforcement system will never be perfect. Yes, there are corrupt officers. People’s rights aren’t always respected. Yet without a police force, the streets would devolve into a sideshow of murder, robbery, debauchery, and rape.
Citizens need something to stand between them and the evil of criminality. What’s the alternative? Social workers? Paying criminals not to commit crimes? Liberals who push to defund the police don’t even want citizens owning guns, so self-defense is out.
If city leaders don’t become more pragmatic and start looking at the big picture, President Donald Trump may be forced to bring federal resources to bear, as he did with Washington, D.C., and bail out these far-left radicals with our precious federal tax dollars.
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