Good News: The Pandemic Surge In Crime Is The Fault Of Police Or Something

See, it’s not the fault of criminals, and certainly not the fault of Democrats who run the cities where crime is surging and have historically been soft on crime. Nope, it’s the police, according to Ryan Cooper at The Week

The pandemic crime surge is a policing problem

The last several years have seen a building movement for criminal justice reform in America, culminating in the massive George Floyd protests around the country last summer. Progressive district attorneys like Larry Krasner in Philadelphia and Chesa Boudin in San Francisco have been elected promising to cut back on cash bail, reduce the severity of sentences, prosecute crooked or violent cops, and so forth.

But reformers are running into a backlash. Krasner is up for reelection this year, and police unions are blaming him for the surge in violent crime that has happened in his city over the last year. They are backing a conservative challenger, Carlos Vega. A similar thing is happening in San Francisco, where a group of right-wing tech elites (with the typically tone-deaf slogan of “V.C. Lives Matter”) are trying to recall Boudin.

These arguments are a crock. A return to brutal war-on-crime tactics will not reduce crime — that will require staying the course on reform.

This is Liberal Thought, where cracking down on people who commit crimes will not reduce crime. Tell it to NY City, where the city was crime infested under Mayor Dinkens, then Rudy Guiliani came in, cracked down, and significantly reduced the crime rate.

The argument from police unions and Big Tech barons is the classic reactionary position on crime from the 1980s and ’90s. These reformers are supposedly being soft on crime, so the argument goes, and so the criminal class is emboldened. Therefore we need to “get tough” and start brutally punishing offenders to set an example.

So, being soft on criminals reduces crime? Now, that is a crock. And Cooper attempts to argue this for several more paragraphs

Unfortunately, there are several giant holes in the argument. Take Krasner: As Joshua Vaughn writes at The Appeal, while Krasner has put through many worthy reforms (he has cut future sentences by 20,000 years compared to the prior DA) he is not even close to the radicals who think the police should be abolished altogether. Indeed, many activists have criticized him for continuing to use steep cash bail amounts for certain crimes. Krasner has not at all halted prosecution of serious crime — on the contrary, he has prosecuted over 99 percent of homicides, and over 98 percent of non-lethal shootings, in which Philadelphia police made an arrest. Unfortunately, the cops made arrests in only about 40 percent of homicides and less than 20 percent of non-lethal shootings.

Uh, that’s because there are so many shootings, and, contrary to TV shows, most get away with it, especially since so many in these Democrat run cities refuse to snitch. Gang members won’t even snitch on members of other gangs. They’ll just retaliate.

The logic of the police unions is that if you punish murderers, there will be fewer murders. And it turns out that a great many criminals are escaping with impunity — it’s just the fault of the police. On the raw numbers, any Philly murderer has a better-than-even chance of evading the cops. In fact, it’s worse than that. Typically something like a third of murders basically solve themselves because the culprit is found at the scene, or there is very obvious evidence. Philly cops are doing barely better than that — meaning that if you kill someone and take any steps at all to cover your tracks, you’re all but guaranteed to get away with it. Krasner is more than willing to prosecute violent offenders, but Philly cops are too lazy or incompetent to catch most of them.

See? It’s the fault of the police. No mention that the crimes are being committed, and that they are rising, and were rising even before the pandemic. More often, police are there to clean up the crime, not to stop it.

Investigations into policing demonstrate that the most important part of detective work is community relations. Forensic evidence is rarely decisive; what matters are detectives who are trusted by the citizenry and witnesses who are willing to cooperate. It follows that, by the logic of the police unions, the biggest obstacle to reducing crime is the terrible reputation police departments have earned for themselves by constantly hassling, abusing, and killing people. People are much less willing to talk to police when departments are constantly in the news for mercilessly gassing and beating unarmed protesters, or choking somebody to death for trying to pass a fake $20 bill.

Again, it’s all the fault of the police, who are supposed to build relationships and squishy stuff. All Floyd had to do was comply. Put hands on steering wheel. Say “I had no idea it was a fake bill.” Cops would have written a statement, then moved on, because they don’t have time for something like that. The Treasury Department would have gotten an email, and could have followed up with Floyd if they chose. Local cops don’t care, it’s too hard to backtrace a fake bill, there is more important crime going on, and it’s not their job. Don’t want to have a run in with the cops? Don’t commit crime. It really is simple. If you get pulled over for speeding, don’t give the cops crap: you broke the law. Take the ticket and move on.

These are all promising strategies. But they will require more reform, not less — frankly, Krasner, Boudin, and other reformers have barely gotten started. In particular, it will require a total overhaul of recalcitrant police departments across the country, who seem to view crime sprees as useful political leverage they can use to escape accountability. Voters in Philly, San Francisco, and elsewhere: don’t fall for it.

How’s that defunding working out? Not well. Have fun in your unhinged Dem run cities.

Save $10 on purchases of $49.99 & up on our Fruit Bouquets at 1800flowers.com. Promo Code: FRUIT49
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds.

Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed

13 Responses to “Good News: The Pandemic Surge In Crime Is The Fault Of Police Or Something”

  1. Dana says:

    The lie is easily apparent: Carlos Vega is no conservative; he’s just not as whacked out left as Larry Krasner. From Mr Vega’s campaign website:

    As the first Latino Homicide prosecutor in Pennsylvania, Carlos Vega has devoted his career to protecting Philadelphians; helping to overturn wrongful convictions; and standing up for marginalized communities like the one he grew up in that are too often targeted by crime and an inequitable criminal justice system.

    And:

    We can root out racial and wealth-based inequities that plague our system by prohibiting cash bail for people charged with misdemeanors and do not pose a risk to the community. We must also hold bad cops accountable by ensuring they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for criminal wrongdoing.

    And:

    We can end gun violence and stop the flow of illegal weapons onto our streets by enforcing current laws and advocating for commonsense gun laws.

    He’s a Democrat, but he’s a Democrat who believes in actually prosecuting violent offenders. He might not be the best prosecutor for which Philadelphia could hope, but he’d be better than George Soros’ tool Larry Krasner.

  2. Hairy says:

    Crime everywhere in the USA shot up under Trump
    I expect as the economy recovers under biden that the rate of increase will drop

    • Kye says:

      The crime rate shot up under demofascist lock downs and defunding police. It had NOTHING to do with Trump you fukin liar so don’t go there.

      I also expect the economy to recover since since Jan 20, all negative news has stopped, the phony flu miraculously was cured, and everyone went back to work except those who didn’t or those who went to lesser jobs. So that too is a lie. When you have all the fake news outlets gaslighting for you success is inevitable but ya know what Hairy? The crime rate will not drop unless the demofascists choose the cops over BLM.

      In other news, Major League Baseball renewed a licensing contract earlier this week with a Chinese media company that has targeted an NBA executive over his support human rights and democracy activists in Hong Kong.

      The deal, which MLB signed with Tencent on Wednesday, has taken on new significance after the league’s decision Friday to pull its All Star game out of Atlanta over a Georgia state voting law opposed by Democrats.

      MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the move was being made because the league “fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”

      Ya can’t spell MLB without the BLM. All racists all the time. Any White American that still watches pro sports should be ashamed of himself. What do they need to do to let you know they HATE you and all they want is your money?

      Is this what it was like in Germany in 1936? Some of the people watching and knowing what is happening while the rest watch sports and Award Shows and avoid confrontation? Sadly I’m too old and too ill to be much use in the streets but my foster kids are. The feds are still harassing my oldest and I got a call from the FBI on Friday. I hung up on them. Imagine, calling a guy on Good Friday to bother him.

      • Elwood P. Dowd says:

        It’s too bad the former guy allowed the pandemic to get out of hand. Violent crime goes hand in hand with poverty. White-collar crime is largely independent of overall poverty.

        What do you think of the former president bilking donors out of millions? He’s had to refund over 60 million so far (interest free, too!). A poor guy robs a 7-11 of $100 gets years, a fat elitist steals millions and is a conservahero for being oh so clever! Same as it ever was…

  3. Professor hale says:

    Floyd died of fentynal overdose, complicated by blocked arteries. The police were just there when it happened.

    • Elwood P. Dowd says:

      Just a coincidence that Officer Chauvin was kneeling on his throat at the time. Anyway, the trial will determine Chauvin’s fate.

      • gitarcarver says:

        Just a coincidence that Officer Chauvin was kneeling on his throat at the time.

        Yet the autopsy showed there was no trauma to the neck.

        The state advanced the theory that Chauvin was kneeling on Floyd’s neck cutting off blood through the carotid artery and that is how Floyd died. However, the video shows that Chauvin’s knee never changed position on the back of the neck and the first paramedic testified that upon arriving at the scene, he felt for a pulse by placing his fingers on the carotid artery which, if the prosecution was correct, would have been under Chauvin’s knee.

        During Monday’s testimony, the doctor who performed treated Floyd at the hospital was asked if fentynal limited the amount of air a person could take in. The answer was “yes.” The doctor was then asked if people overdosing on fentynal died of asphyxiation. That answer was “yes” as well.

        So far the state’s case has been based on emotion and not on facts.

        That is not surprising as this is a case driven by the left, which hates facts. After all, all the left has is hate.

        • Professor Hale says:

          There was no trauma to the neck because there was no kneeling on the neck. The police knee was on his shoulder. Police video showed at trial yesterday. The entire media narrative for this was a fiction.

      • Jl says:

        Yes-not resisting arrest matters…

Pirate's Cove