By the Republican National Committee
CRIME IS SURGING ACROSS THE COUNTRY
- At least nine cities, seven of which are Democrat-run, saw record homicides last year as skyrocketing crime continues to plague communities across the country.
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<li>Many other major cities in 2022 saw homicide levels not seen in decades, including <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-orleans-closes-2022-sky-high-homicide-rate-decades-horrific">New Orleans</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pittsburgh-homicide-totals-2022-2023-shootings-crime/">Pittsburgh</a>, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/atlanta-homicide-total-rises-for-third-year-with-days-left-in-2022/AHE37ACHIBC4BFKMUDXXOILRWY/">Atlanta</a>, and <a href="https://www.phoenix.gov/police/resources-information/crime-stats-maps">Phoenix</a>.</li>
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<li>New York City set a <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/12/crime-in-nyc-hits-levels-not-seen-since-the-mid-2000s/">new felony crimes record</a> last year, with the most felony crimes reported in at least 15 years.</li>
<li>Seattle's violent crime rate reached a <a href="https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/seattle-2022-crime-report/281-61f06cb3-9d2b-4183-a6d8-476bf6b50963">15-year high</a> last year, while the number of officers within the Seattle Police Department has reached an all-time low. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/auto-thefts-carjackings-major-u-s-cities-spike-new-report/">Motor vehicle thefts across 30 major cities</a> increased by 59 percent from 2019 to 2022.
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<li>In Washington D.C., <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/01/04/dc-carjackings-rise-for-fifth-straight-year">carjackings</a> increased for the fifth straight year.</li>
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<li>In San Diego, hate crimes skyrocketed by <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/hate-crimes-up-65-percent-san-diego-2022/509-4ec9d404-3c9a-4395-99c0-f8e7bf4d900c#1">65 percent</a> last year, and in Los Angeles County, hate crimes reached their <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-12-07/hate-crimes-la-county">highest level in nearly two decades</a>.</li>
DEMOCRATS PUSH PRO-CRIMINAL POLICIES, THEN DEFLECT BLAME
- Democrats are on record repeatedly calling to defund the police and following through by slashing money from police budgets.
- Just last week, 173 Democrats backed a Washington, D.C. law that reduces penalties for murderers, carjackers, armed robbers, and home invaders.
- The Democrat Party has become the pro-criminal party – many of the Democrats elected this past November ran on pro-criminal platforms.
- Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) expressed support for releasing one-third of prisoners, eliminating cash bail, opening heroin injection sites, and decriminalizing all drugs, including fentanyl.
- New York Governor Kathy Hochul stands by cashless bail, supports DAs who refuse to enforce the law, and lowered penalties for parole violations, including failed drug tests.
- Oregon Governor Tina Kotek stands by the state's failed drug decriminalization measure and wants a "meth stabilization center" in Portland to further enable illicit drug markets.
- Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she "support[s] that spirit" of "defund the police."
- Democrats are trying to shirk responsibility for the rise in crime despite their own far-left policies being to blame.
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) blamed the police for higher subway crime, saying "subway crime is up after they committed so many more officers to the subway system."
- Gov. Hochul claimed it was a "conspiracy" that violent crime is rising.
DEFUND DEMOCRATS ARE HYPOCRITICALLY HIRING PRIVATE SECURITY
- While Democrats push to defund the police that protect our communities, they are beefing up their own private security to protect themselves.
- Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), one of the first Democrats to call for defunding the police, responded to rising crime by spending over $500,000 in campaign contributions for her own private security force.
- Cori Bush used this money to line her family's pockets – her campaign paid her husband $60,000 for security protection last year despite him not holding a private security license.
- Other prominent defund-the-police Democrats, including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Jamaal Bowman, (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), have also doled out money for private security.
BIDEN REFUSES TO STAND UP TO SOFT-ON-CRIME DEMOCRATS
- Biden failed to stand up to the radicals in his own party who pushed defunding the police and has surrounded himself with an administration full of defund the police activists.
- Biden's Vice President Kamala Harris supports "reimagining" the police, saying putting "more police on the streets" is not the way to make communities safer.
- Biden's Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta stated "It is also critical… to decrease police budgets and the scope, role, and responsibility of police in our lives."
- Biden's Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke wrote an op-ed where she repeatedly called for defunding cops, saying "we must invest less in police."
- Biden's former Senior Advisor for Public Engagement Keisha Lance Bottoms admitted she was defunding the police through a "reallocation of resources" when she served as Atlanta Mayor.
- The Biden administration has hosted numerous defund the police activists according to White House visitor logs.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE PAYING THE PRICE FOR DEMOCRATS' POLICIES
- Police departments are struggling to combat both a lack of funds and a lack of respect as they try to do their jobs.
- As crime has surged, so have attacks on the men and women in blue.
- In Biden's first year in office, ambush-style attacks on law enforcement increased 115 percent.
- This trend continued into Biden's second year, with 129 officers shot in 89 separate ambush-style attacks.
- Police departments across the county are seeing historic drops in staffing as police officers have become fed up with the lack of support.
- The Baltimore Police Department lost about 280 officers last year, with the city short at least 600 officers.
- The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department now likely has the lowest number of officers since at least the 1970s.
- The New York Police Department saw more resignations in 2022 than at any time in the last 20 years.
- The Los Angeles Police Department is begging retired officers to come back to work amid staffing shortages.
POLLING SHOWS AMERICANS REJECT DEMOCRATS' SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES
- Polling consistently shows the American people are fed up with Democrats' soft-on-crime policies.
Originally posted here. - In a recent Harvard/Harris poll, just 39 percent of voters approved of Biden's handling of crime.
- In an ABC News/Ipsos poll, 58 percent of voters disapproved of Biden's handling of crime.
- With Democrats in charge, it's no wonder 72 percent of Americans believe the crime rate will rise in 2023.
