Democrats who defunded the police are in the process of refunding the police as violence explodes

Cities that defunded police made sure their leaders got police protection-YouTube screenshot

Report: Democrat mayors who defunded the police spent millions on their own police security details

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The following contains editorial content written by a retired Chief of Police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.

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ACROSS THE USA- For Democrats, defunding the police “is for thee and not for me.”

That is what we have learned from the Washington Examiner,  which reports that Democratic mayors in major cities, who called to defund the police in those cities did not hold themselves to that same restriction, spending millions on their own security details.

The Democrats, across some two dozen major cities and who have publicly called to defund the police have themselves been receiving police protection on the taxpayers’ dime.

Forbes conducted an analysis of 25 major US cities which showed that in at least 20 of those cities, mayors and other city officials are hypocrites, saying one thing publicly while privately making sure they had protection.

Furthermore, the report noted that cities where calls were made to defund the police in concert with those same officials receiving taxpayer-funded protection were all run by Democratic mayors, the report said.

Take Baltimore for instance, where the city council gutted the police budget by some $22 million. To add injury to insult, the city spent $3.6 million on 14 police officers assigned to protect Mayor Brandon Scott, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, and anti-police zealot State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

Mosby famously prosecuted six Baltimore police officers in 2015, seizing on the prior deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Trayvon Martin in order to make a name for herself and pretend to be a tough-on-cops prosecutor.

Those arrests stemmed from the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in Baltimore Police custody. All six officers were either exonerated or had their charges dropped, leaving Mosby with mud on her face. Yet, Baltimore police officers are tasked with protecting her.

In the Mogadishu of the U.S., Chicago, the city spent $17.3 million between 2015 and 2020 protecting “unnamed city officials” according to FOIA requests from Open the Books, affiliated with Forbes.

Despite useless Mayor Lori Lightfoot claiming she didn’t support defunding the police, records show that some 400 police officer positions were cut last year, while city officials’ security detail cost the city $3.4 million for 22 officers. That number has steadily increased year after year since 2016.

San Francisco, where shoplifters now rip-off stores for sport, officials said they were going to remove $120 million from the San Francisco Police Department over two years and divert the funds into health programs. Between 2015 and 2020, the city spent $12.4 million to protect anti-cop mayor London Breed.

As with Lightfoot, Breed’s detail’s costs have increased year after year, going from $417,489 in 2016 to $2.6 million in 2020.

San Diego, not quite as much of a craphole as San Francisco this year budgeted $2.6 million for 12 full-time officers to protect the mayor, Todd Gloria, as well as city council members during meetings and to provide security at the city administration building.

However his recent budget proposed slashing $4.3 million from the police overtime budget and allocating $1 million for a Commission on Police Practices, intended to review and evaluate complaints by the public against police officers.

Then there is New York City, home of communist-sympathizing, French fry eating, anti-cop mayor Bill de Blasio. As crime in the Big Apple exploded, the city cut $1 billion—that’s (B)illion with a “B”from the 2021 police budget, a cut of roughly 17 percent. The city reallocated $354 million to curb homelessness and promote educational services.

However as the Examiner noted, de Blasio, his wife, and son have had no problems jet-setting around the country with an NYPD security detail.

In fact, Forbes reported the NYPD security detail that accompanied de Blasio during his ill-fated presidential run in 2020 cost taxpayers $358,000.

Two years ago, de Blasio was outed by the New York Daily News for ordering his NYPD security detail to repeatedly drive his son back and forth from New York City to Yale University in New Haven, CT., during his first few years in school. The paper said officers from the Executive Protection Unit made the trip at least seven or eight times, according to a source with direct knowledge.

That revelation followed on the heels of another report from the Daily News that revealed de Blasio had officers from that unit move his anti-cop daughter, Chiara out of an apartment in Brooklyn.

Denver mayor Michael Hancock, who publicly claims he is against defunding the police while the national media touts the city’s policy as a model for defunding the police, has a security detail consisting of one sergeant and six detectives. Over five years, the detail has cost taxpayers nearly $4.2 million dollars.

A number of other Democrat-run cities also slashed their police budgets; however Forbes didn’t have the cost of the mayors’ security details readily available. All of the Democrat-run cities that defunded the police have experienced exponential rises in violent crime.

The following cities defunded their police departments:

Minneapolis, MN- Cut $8 million from police budget and launched “mental health team” to respond to certain 911 calls

Oakland, CA- cut police budget by $14.6 million (recently cut additional funds)

Portland, OR- ground zero for anarchist protests, the city cut $15 million from the police budget and disbanded a gun violence reduction unit

Atlanta, GA- reallocated %50% of corrections budget to social services and community enhancement initiatives. NOTE: The state of Georgia banned defunding the police, defined as cutting budgets by more than 5%.

Seattle, WA- Initially planned to cut the police budget by 50% however backtracked and “only” reduced it by 20%

Los Angeles, CA- cut $150 million from the $1.86 billion budget

Washington, DC- home of the most boring “insurrection” in world history, the city cut the DC Metro Police budget by $15 million

Philadelphia, PA- slashed police funding by $33 million while violent crime runs rampant and far-left neo-Marxist district attorney Larry Krasner basically refuses to do his job

Hartford, CT- cut $1 million from $40 million police budget

Salt Lake City, UT- Cut the police budget by $5.3 million and for some reason denied Forbes’ FOIA request

Austin, TX- cut $20 million from the police department and moved $80 million by shifting certain services out of law enforcement

Dallas, TX- slashed $7 million from the $24 million overtime budget

How about a little bit of tone-deafness while we’re at it? When the New York City Council voted to decimate the NYPD budget by slashing $1 billion, Council Member Daniel Dromm, chair of the Finance Committee said the following:

“We recognize that the City must move away from the racist policing [policies] of the past. This budget significantly scales back funding for law enforcement at [a] time when crime is at an all-time low and redirects those dollars towards services that uplift our communities during this time of great hardship.” [emphasis added]

That statement was made on June 30, 2020, when at the time there had been a 130% increase in the number of shooting incident compared to the same period in 2019. Murders were up 30%, burglaries were up 118%, and auto thefts were up 51%, according to NYPD crime stats. [emphasis added]

For more on hypocritic Democrats, we invite you to:

DIG DEEPER

The following contains editorial content written by a retired Chief of Police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today. 

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YONKERS, NY- Frauds. The Democrat Party is full of them. Actually, the political left is full of them.

From LeBron James hiring off-duty LAPD officers for a security detail at his home to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot being protected by a Chicago PD police detail, there are innumerable examples of liberal hypocrisy.

The latest comes to us from the only testosterone-laden (we think) member of the “squad,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). Bowman is one of the loudest and most obnoxious voices in the “defund the police” chorus.

Of course, when Bowman says, “defund the police,” he doesn’t mean for him. Only you and me. And of course, those who live in crime-ridden neighborhoods. 

According to the New York Post, Bowman asked for—and received—a special detail to watch over his home in Yonkers, NY in the days immediately following the lamest “insurrection” in history, the one at the US Capitol on January 6.

According to Yonkers Police Detective Lt. Dean Politopoulos in a statement to the Post, he said:

“About a week after the Jan. 6th incident at the Capitol, we received a request from the Congressman’s office for increased police presence at his residence,” the detective said.

“In response, our Intelligence Unit was notified of the request and the local precinct instituted what is called a directed patrol at the Congressman’s home for the next two weeks.”

Typically, such a request would result in some type of a paid detail, however it is unknown if Bowman or his office paid for such a detail. Lt. Politopoulos said that the police department has not noted anything unusual in Bowman’s area over the past couple of years.

The incident on January 6th, hyped into a frenzied status by Democrats and their media sycophants, occurred as a couple of thousand mostly peaceful protesters descended upon the Capitol and the immediate area to protest last November’s election, which was (and still is) mired in controversy.

Leftists have claimed the incident put the country on the “brink” of having our “democracy overturned,” however as Joe Biden reminded us last week, the government has F15s and nuclear bombs.

So it is doubtful a couple thousand people led by a dude in a Viking hat were anywhere near overturning anything, except a couple of chairs and a desk.

Leftists have also called the incident a “deadly insurrection,” but the only one killed at the protest was an unarmed military veteran, Ashli Babbitt, killed by a still unnamed law enforcement official. Some have identified the shooter as a Capitol Police Department officer, but video of the shooting seems to indicate it was a plain-clothes officer who shot Babbitt.

Bowman, just like drama-queen Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was nowhere near the Capitol when the incident occurred, having been at the Longworth House Office Building, located a third of a mile south of the main Capitol building.

None of those engaged in the protest made it to Longworth, which was actually where some members of Congress were evacuated to.

The Post was told that police were requested at Bowman’s house after he had allegedly “received threats.”

“US Capitol Police advised us to reach out to local authorities to request heightened patrolling of his residence until the situation was mitigated. We followed their advice,” Bowman’s chief of staff, Sarah Iddrissu told the outlet.

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She refused to detail the threats other than to say there were “varying degrees of alarm.” She also refused to answer questions about Bowman’s duplicity in requesting extra police as he has called to defund the police and his general anti-cop positions.

Bowman, a self-avowed Democratic Socialist (there sure are a lot of those, aren’t there?) has tied himself to the crazy train called the “squad,” which is comprised of far-left neo-Marxist lunatics. Besides AOC, the group is also comprised off Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Cori Bush (D-MO).

Bowman, a freshman ousted a 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) in the Westchester-based district’s Democratic primary. Bowman’s elevation came just a couple months after George Floyds’ death from a combination of meth/fentanyl, heart problems and positional asphyxia.

Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in his death and was recently sentenced to 22 years in prison. Chauvin has vowed to appeal.

In a blog called The Appeal, Bowman last year addressed what he calls mass incarceration and alleged police brutality.

“As a black man in America, I know what it’s like to feel occupied in my own community. Policing is the gateway to the corrupt system of mass incarceration, which has left many people in communities of color, especially working-class communities of color, feel terrorized.”

Bowman claimed he was allegedly “attacked” by police when he was 11 years old and had been handcuffed for minor traffic violations.  

Last December, Bowman called to defund the police, saying the system was “cruel and inhumane” and “can’t be reformed.”

Bowman also called for cutting the NYPD budget, using the leftist buzzword of “reimagining” public safety, while allocating resources to public health and job training.

A Fox News report last December, after his election continued the same theme.

“Historically when our communities have needed jobs, they didn’t bring us jobs, they brought us police and they created a system of mass incarceration,” Bowman said.

“And we live in a country where if you’re black or brown, you’re more likely to be killed by police [which has been statistically debunked], and more likely to be incarcerated, and more likely to not afford bail.”

Bowman even became angry with Biden’s puppet master, Barack Obama who last year suggested Democrats’ use of the “defund the police” mantra wasn’t doing them any good.

“The problem is America’s comfort with black death—not discomfort with slogans,” Bowman said of Obama’s statement.

This is of course absurd, since Democrats, Bowman included, have been ignoring the genocide in cities such as Chicago where black on black crime continues to take scores of lives every month.

An overwhelming number of rank-and-file Americans are concerned with the crime taking place in America’s largest cities, run by Democrats, where more black lives are lost on a summer weekend than in a year at the hands of police.

Bowman has also gotten the leftist marching orders, referring to police as white supremacists, which is the new buzzword for Democrats in trying to attack and undermine those who supported former President Donald Trump.

Bowman’s hypocrisy didn’t go unnoticed by some in law enforcement.

“Congressman Bowman’s cry for extra policing at his home is hypocrisy at its worst,” said Keith Olson, president of the Yonkers Police Benevolent Association in a statement to the Post. “Not long ago, the Congressman called for dramatically less policing in the most violent, crime-ridden neighborhoods…asking these same police officers to protect your family while creating policies that make communities of color less safe is simply disgraceful.”

It was also noted by some outside of law enforcement:

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Bowman of course isn’t the only “squad” member to say one thing and do another. Law Enforcement Today previously reported on the “squad” members spending nearly $80,000 on their personal security between January and March, citing a report in the Daily Caller. That report may be found below.

DIG DEEPER

WASHINGTON, DC- You’ve got to love leftist hypocrisy.

From Patrisse Cullors of Black Lives Matter buying millions of dollars of real estate in primarily white neighborhoods to Nancy Pelosi having an eight-foot fence with concertina wire on top to “protect” the U.S. Capitol, their chutzpah knows no bounds.

Now we’re finding out that the members of the neo-Marxist “squad”, who have been calling for police to be defunded themselves pay tens of thousands of dollars on private security…for themselves.

The Daily Caller reports that Federal Election Commission records reviewed by them shows the level of hypocrisy shown by several of the squad members.

The reports the Daily Caller reviewed showed that Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA) and Cori Bush (MO) all spent thousands of dollars out of campaign funds on their own security.

One such hypocrite, “affectionately” known as AOC last year sharply criticized a decision by New York City to cut the NYPD budget by $1 billion, complaining it did not go far enough.

“Defunding police means defunding police,” the former bartender said in a statement.

“It does not mean budget tricks of funny math. It does not mean moving school police officers from the NYPD budget to the Department of Educations’ budget, so the exact same police remain in schools.”

Ocasio-Cortez had claimed in a 2020 Instagram live that the entire country would look just like the peaceful suburbs if only we could get rid of police. That of course is absurd on its face.

“Affluent white communities live in a world where they choose to fund youth, health, housing, etc. more than they fund the police,” she said at the time.

The absurdity of that statement clearly doesn’t take into account that crime rates are much lower in the suburbs, therefore the need for less police. Clearly her economics major didn’t include any classes in common sense.

Here is what the Daily Caller found about Ocasio-Cortez:

  • In January, February and March 2021, Ocasio-Cortez spent $3,000 a month on a security consultant based in Brooklyn, New York. Records show she spent $9,000 for three months of security consulting.
  • On Jan. 25, 2021, she spent $24,279.13 on “security.”
  • On Jan 19, 2021, she spent $3,986.60 on “security services.”
  • On Feb. 2, 2021, she spent $849.22 on “security services.”
  • On Feb. 25, 2021, she spent $1552.50 at 24&7 Security & Investigations, Inc., which her office claimed was for a “security detail in Houston.”

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And what of resident anti-Semite Ilhan Omar, who never seems to have a problem playing fast and loose with funds?

  • On Jan. 20, 2021, Omar spent $66.97 on “Security Services” (a bargain!)
  • On Jan. 29, 2021, Omar spent $202.70 on “Security Services”
  • On Feb. 19, 2021 she spent another $66.97 on “Security Services.”
  • On Feb. 26, 2021 Omar spent $2,700 on “Security Services.”
  • On March 16, 2021, Omar spent another $66.97 on “Security Services.”

In an appearance on CNN in June of last year, Omar was asked about defunding the police, to which she claimed the system cannot be reformed.

“You can’t really reform a department that is rotten to the root. What you can do is rebuild,” Omar said. “No one is saying crimes will not be investigated.”

She continued, “What we are saying is the current infrastructure that exists as policing in our city should not exist anymore, and we can’t go about creating a different process with the same infrastructure in place.”

Pressley, who might want to invest some of her security money in a wig and someone who is another anti-police zealot spent $4,186.75 on “Security Services” according to her April quarterly 2021 filing:

  • On Jan. 26, 2021, Pressley spent $1,292.00 while home in Massachusetts.
  • On Jan. 27, 2021, Pressley spent $1,167.50 for security in Alexandria, Virginia.
  • On March 4, 2021, Pressley spent $675.25 on ADT security, based in Boca Raton, Florida.
  • Five days later, on March 9, 2021, she spent $252.00 again in Massachusetts.
  • On March 19, 2021, Pressley spent $700.00 for a Washington, D.C.-based security company, LGC Security LLC.

Pressley, in an interview with TIME last June said she is a supporter of defunding police departments, claiming it is “about the investment in our communities which have historically been divested from.”

Then there is freshman Cori Bush of St. Louis, who strongly advocates defunding police. She spent over $30,000 for her own security according to her April Quarterly 2021 financial report:

  • On Jan. 18, 2021, Bush spent $1,060.00 on security provided from Whole Armor Executive Protection in Bowie, Maryland.
  • On Jan. 21, 2021, Bush spent $5,000 on security from Nathaniel Davis, Jr. in her home state of Missouri.
  • On Jan. 25, 2021 Bush spent $530.00 on security again from Davis, this time in Palo Alto, California.
  • On Feb. 17, 2021, Bush spent $7743.75 on security from RS&T Security Counseling LLC in New York City.
  • On Feb. 25, 2021, Bush spent $5,000 on security from Sandler, Reiff, Lamb, Rosenstein & Birk in Washington, D.C.
  • On Feb. 26, 2021, Bush spent $5,812.00 on security again from RS&T Security Counseling, LLC in New York City.
  • On March 15, 2021, she spent $5,000 on security from Nathaniel Davis in her hometown of St. Louis.
  • Again on March 15, 2020, Bush spent $2,456.25 on security from RS&T Security Consulting , LLC. In New York City.

In December 2020, Bush sent out a tweet criticizing former President Barack Obama for his refusal to call for defunding of police.

“With all due respect, Mr. President—let’s talk about losing people. We lost Michael Brown Jr. We lost Breonna Taylor. We’re losing our loved ones to police violence. It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive. Defund the police,” she said in a tweet.

Yes, she actually mentioned Michael Brown.

The Daily Caller said they reached out to all four “squad” members about the large expenditures for security, none of whom responded.

The outlet also reached out to a number of the security companies listed, however they could only confirm they provided armed security, but were unable to comment on the nature of services provided to the four neo-Marxist congresswomen.

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Joseph Patrick is a retired police officer and a long-time law enforcement professional who is passionate about law enforcement and politics.

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