2022 Was Another Record-Breaking Year For Crime In Many Democrat-Run Cities, Yet Democrats Continue To Support Pro-Criminal Policies

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.
  • Many other major cities in 2022 saw homicide levels not seen in decades, including New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Phoenix.
• New York City set a new felony crimes record last year, with the most felony crimes reported in at least 15 years.
• Seattle’s violent crime rate reached a 15-year high last year, while the number of officers within the Seattle Police Department has reached an all-time low. 
• Motor vehicle thefts across 30 major cities increased by 59 percent from 2019 to 2022.
  • In Washington D.C., carjackings increased for the fifth straight year.
• In San Diego, hate crimes skyrocketed by 65 percent last year, and in Los Angeles County, hate crimes reached their highest level in nearly two decades.

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.
  • 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.