Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva blamed the “Defund the Police” movement and the radical leftists behind it for the alarming spike in murder rates throughout the county.
Statistics released this month show murders in Los Angeles County have risen nearly 200% this year, and Villanueva said anti-police policies are the reason why.
“It’s very easy to say, ‘Oh yeah, all cops are bad,’ and ‘Let’s reform and defund the police,'” he explained. “Yet, they’re the very first ones to pick up the 911 when someone’s crawling over their back gate trying to get into their house.”
By Feb. 28 of this year, there were 60 murders in Los Angeles County, a 186% rise over the 21 recorded during the same period in 2020.
Villanueva said the policies that county District Attorney George Gascon has implemented over the past year have emboldened criminals who no longer fear harsh penalties.
Several other big cities are experiencing a wave of homicides too. There were 24 murders in Portland, Oregon during the first three months of 2021 compared to just three during the same time period in 2020.
New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore have also seen their murder rates skyrocket.
Villanueva isn’t the only official that believes anti-police policies have had an immediate effect. Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller argued the Left’s “war” on police officers is boosting crime and costing lives.
“Look at a case like Philadelphia, where you have a far left prosecutor. Homicides are surging. Violent criminals are being released,” Miller said.
“If you want to save thousands of lives in this country every single year, take the strategies and tactics that New York’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani deployed in the ’90s and apply those nationwide,” Miller continued. “Support our cops, long prison sentences. Take violent offenders off the streets, and, in the case of criminal illegal immigrants, send them home.”
