Billy Long: It's time for Democrats to move on from defund the police to fund the police

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

Americans deserve to feel safe in their own communities. However, millions of Americans are scared in those communities for the first time in their lives. This of course is due to a dramatic spike in violent crime that is gripping nearly every major American city. 

Smash and grabs, car jackings and murders have increased exponentially along with all manner of violent crime. It all started with the insane notion that we should not fund our police departments. This along with no bail policies and weak-kneed prosecutors puts us in an untenable pickle. 

Folks are wondering what can be done to stop the violence. Well number one we need to criminalize crime again and by all means provide the police with the funds they need to protect us.

The tragic death of George Floyd in police custody sparked national protest movements by Black Lives Matter. These movements led to calls to "Defund the Police" by Democrat politicians, progressive activists and various fringe groups like Antifa. 

Many cities did defund their police departments to a large degree and it didn’t take long for the chickens to come home to roost. Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, and other Democrat led cities all experienced huge jumps in crime, according to statistics from the F.B.I. and the defunded police departments themselves.

As it turns out, when you strip funding from police forces, violent crime goes up. This problem is not isolated to the big cities – it is happening everywhere. 

In my hometown of Springfield Missouri, our police department is 55 officers short of being fully staffed. With less staff, the remaining officers are working overtime to make up the difference. Not only that, but their jobs are becoming more and more dangerous due to the increase in violent crime. We are asking police officers to work longer hours, with less funding in more dangerous conditions than ever before. It’s no wonder that so many officers have decided to hang up their badges for safer occupations.

If we want to solve this crisis, we need to give proper funding to the police once again. It’s simple, when you give the police the necessary resources to fight violent crime, the crime rate goes down. 

Many Democrat mayors are waking up to this reality because they don’t want to see the violence on their streets. The voters are also tired of the violence. New York City, one of the most progressive cities in the country, just elected a pro-police former Captain in the New York City Police Department as their mayor. 

When even residents of New York are voting to put in pro-police politicians, you know the situation has gotten out of hand. Unfortunately, the White House hasn’t quite gotten the message yet. Just a few weeks ago, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki mocked Fox News for covering the crime wave. And still many Democrats in Congress are doubling down on their broken policies, completely oblivious to the devastation they have caused. It’s time for them to move on from “Defund the Police”, and instead to “Fund the Police." It’s the only way this massive spike in violent crime will end.