We haven't quite gotten there, but things are moving in that direction. That is especially true in places like Portland. And the crime numbers are reflecting that.
Portland's decline has been legendary. Or maybe apocalyptic. Portland police’s newly resurrected gun violence team can’t find officers to fill unit: report.
Portland "defunded" and demonized their police. They got the surge in crime that anyone could have guessed would occur.
Portland wants to reconstitute its Gun Violence Reduction Unit, but with a different name, and there are not many takers. 4 officers applied for 14 positions.
But first the stats.
Portland has seen 53 homicides so far this year, putting it on track to pass the all-time high of 70 in 1987. As officers were redeployed to ongoing, violent demonstrations at government buildings that stretched from last summer until early this year, a sense of lawlessness grew.
Why the dramtic increase in homicides? Portland disbanded a unit devoted to violent, armed criminals. As anyone with 2 braincells to rub together would realize, that might increase crime.
Homicides have surged since the unit was disbanded last summer after the Portland City Council voted last summer to slash the police bureau’s budget by $15 million. Amid the uptick in gun violence, Mayor Ted Wheeler proposed a new unit in March renamed the “Focused Initiative Team.”
But with increased scrutiny, excuse me, "oversight," not many want the job. (Hat tip - Hot Air)
Though when I hold this post up next to the one about no one wanting to be cops, it turns out that the people who want to be jack-booted thugs are probably the cops we will get.
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