You may recall that after the George Floyd riots in May 2020 there was a flare of sentiment across the nation, particularly in “liberal” cities, to “Defund the Police.” Since that time there have been some city councils and mayors that have slashed police budgets. There has been a noticeable anti-police sentiment in the media also. Whenever an officer is involved in a shooting, social and news media explode with accusations of systematic racism, police brutality and corruption. These accusations are now so common that morale among sworn officers is excruciatingly low, employee turnover is increasing, and police find themselves feeling more like the enemy than the solution. In addition, the “defund the police” or “reduce bail” movement has resulted in increasing crime rates nationwide as criminals feel emboldened.
If that is not enough, Biden’s federal Covid-19 vaccine mandate is hammering local police departments since many officers protest the mandate’s violation of their health privacy by refusing to get the vaccine. But if even 1/3 of sworn officers in the United States refuse to get the vaccine and lose their jobs, the result will be catastrophic since there are already not enough officers to adequately enforce the law. According to Statista.com, based on FBI reporting data, as of 2020 there are “696,644 full-time law enforcement officers employed in the United States.” [1] This is roughly 2.3 officers per 1,000 people in the country – and that’s not a lot. I mean, imagine being a group of 2 or 3 cops (the 2.3) up against a mob of 1,000 people. Any sane person would not like those odds.
Of course, some politicians have done an amazing job at scoring points with the “defund the police” mob while at the same time pretending they are not really defunding the police. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is among those political tightrope walkers. For example, Mayor Lightfoot “reallocated” $80 million toward social workers from the 2020 Chicago police budget [2] while at the same time stressing she was not defunding the police. By “reallocating” funds to social workers she claims she was boldly reforming policing, not “defunding” the police - as she defunded them in plain sight! Now that’s political genius right there.
The result – skyrocketing homicide rates in Chicago.
Gee – I wonder why?
Now, in general, the argument to “defund” (oh wait – reallocate) is that this reallocation of funds will “reform” the police. Apparently, the goal of increasing funding for social programs, resource specialists, and social workers is the belief that this redirection will offset a negative perception of law enforcement. The thought is that past examples of police brutality and racism have caused a lingering hostility and the perception that the police are just “out to get you” and THAT is what perpetuates crime. In other words, by increasing social program benefits, people trapped in non-privileged situations who hold a negative view of police will be less likely to commit crimes. In short, if these folks do not feel targeted, then they won’t be triggered.
That sounds nice – I mean, no one wants to feel targeted (that’s true). Honestly, the thought of being unfairly targeted because of your race is repulsive. I’ve felt this personally! I am as Scottish as my kilt is pleated and I once had a job as a teacher in a district where the percentage of folks of my ethnicity was less than 5%. I was assaulted multiple times, verbally insulted, and threatened just because of my skin color - on a routine basis – so I’m here to tell you - racism stings, it’s wrong, it should not be tolerated, and it should be confronted.
So yes! – the idea that just creating social programs and not targeting folks will solve crime sounds nice – but unfortunately it just isn’t working. And it won’t work no matter how much money is thrown at social programs either. Saying it won’t work is not a racist thing either. The truth is it won’t work because human beings are NOT total products of their environments. Environments can influence people, but not totally. Ultimately, people have free will and make choices based on the condition of the individual heart. Changing the exterior environment does not automatically influence or change the heart. This is the reason there are so many examples of criminals coming from wealthy families and social heroes coming out of the worst of neighborhoods.
To be fair, the evidence is clear that past policies, procedures, and perceptions by some local law enforcement agencies have been unfair, corrupt, racist, and dangerous. We must acknowledge this properly and soberly. But cops are neither “super-people” nor are they programmable robots, so no matter how hard anyone tries, there will always be examples of officers who cross ethical and moral lines. People are people regardless of the uniform they wear, and this is the reason we have Police Internal Affairs divisions. This is the reason we have a court system. This is the reason the civil rights movement rightly exposed bigoted law enforcement policies in the past and the reason new laws were passed to confront and eliminate that bigotry. We should be vigilant to keep the police accountable to the people.
Police accountability, however, should NOT include any room for people to break the law. It should not mean people get a free pass to riot every time a cop crosses the line. It should not be a mandate to so severely slash police department budgets that they cannot operate efficiently. The current explosion of criminality in this country as police departments face budget cuts is proof enough of that.
But there is a much greater danger looming because of this trend…
To see it creeping up on us, consider this headline released today (12-21-2021). “Chicago Mayor Lightfoot asks federal government for help fighting city’s crime: City grappling with increase in shooting victims this year, data shows.” [3] In short, Mayor Lightfoot continues to insist she has not supported defunding the police (even though her budget has slashed their budget) but since the Chicago Police Department is obviously not doing the job since there were 4,270 shooting crimes in the city (up from 3,930 in 2020) and 783 homicides so far this year – something must be done.
Ahhh…so…more social workers is not stemming the tide? I wonder why she doesn’t admit that? Hmmm…
So - why not truly reform the Chicago Police Department and add better trained officers? Why not eat a little crow and rather than continuing to lament racism – realize that more social programs and social workers isn’t working? Why not put more cops on the street? Why call upon the federal government to help?
Well, my friends, this last question is the looming danger.
You see, there is a reason the founding fathers of the United States created 3 equal branches of government. It was to keep any 1 branch from exercising too much control and thereby threatening the rights of the people. There is a reason the founders made certain some powers were left to state and local control – including policing - because the founders knew that a nationalized, federal police force could come under the control of a tyrant and threaten the liberties of everyone.
This is potentially happening right in front of your eyes.
If local law enforcement becomes too anemic to keep control, Mayors like Lori Lightfoot will increasingly call upon the Federal government to help. But if Federal law enforcement is increasingly populated by “yes-people,” what kind of Federal law enforcement will be left? As I argued in my blog about the military, “there is a certain kind of person who can and will ignore what is morally right. This person has been conditioned, usually by fear, not to question the narrative that is given. These folks simply do what they are told. They do not contemplate moral or philosophical questions…” (see my blog entry “The Huge Threat to the American Military Today, Nov. 2, 2021)
Again – I must reiterate that I am NOT anti-vax, but I DO believe individual freewill is sacred. It is a violation of the individual’s right to medical privacy and personal medical health decisions to mandate any medical procedure – including vaccines. The problem is that Federal vaccine mandates are already causing major employee shortages in critical infrastructures such as police departments. It is the moral right of the individual to resist the fearful threat of a lost job coming from authorities’ intent upon a tyrannical power grab. Military, hospital and law enforcement officers have a moral duty to resist orders that are immoral. What will happen if the leaders of our military and federal law enforcement agencies successfully weed out anyone who dares to question the morality of orders from superiors? What will happen when these powerful institutions fill their ranks only with troops who will not question the moral or ethical ramifications of the narrative being fed to them from the chain of command?
The result will be a ground force of automatons conditioned by fear to say “yes sir” no matter what order is given.
And that is exactly what is happening in America right now. Anyone who questions the morality of the vaccine mandate is labeled an anti-science heretic. Anyone who refuses on any grounds to get the vaccine can now be fired from federal service. And this “purified” group of federally authorized minions is now being called upon to bring order to the city of Chicago.
How long before the Federal government nationalizes all local police forces? How long before local control of law enforcement gives way to Washington? What will happen to your rights then?
You think I’m crying wolf? Think again. I’m a student of history and a nationalized police force filled with unquestioning soldiers loyal only to the narrative of the chain of command is exactly what the Nazi’s and the Communists did to gain power. Robbing the troops of the ability to resist immoral orders robs America of freedom.
I am also a Pastor, not a politician. Biblically I argue that our rights as individuals come from God, but if people in power in Washington can convince enough federal law enforcement and military personnel that individual rights are GIVEN by the government – then we are doomed. Your right to your own private health choices is already being stymied for the sake of “the greater good” by federal mandate. If the enforcement of laws can no longer be held accountable at the local level because it all becomes federalized, then Washington can and will continue to enforce its will over top of the rights of the people.
Unfortunately, I predicted this possibility in November 2021. I just didn’t expect to see evidence it was coming to pass so quickly.
But what can we do about it?
That needs to be another blog entry. At a minimum, we need to speak these concerns out loud – which is the reason I’m writing this. Since I’m only one writer (and less than 200 folks will read this), we need a lot of voices sounding the alarm.
That’s the least we MUST do…
[1] Statista.com, “Number of full-time law enforcement officers in the United States from 2004 to 2020” https://www.statista.com/statistics/191694/number-of-law-enforcement-officers-in-the-us/ accessed 12-21-21 [2] National Police Support Fund, “After Caving to Defund Movement in 2020, Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Proposes More Police Funding as Crime Continues to Spiral,” October 21, 2021. https://nationalpolicesupportfund.com/mayor-lightfoot-proposes-more-police-funding-as-crime-continues-to-spiral/ Accessed 12-21-21. [3] Greg Norman, 12-21-21, “Chicago Mayor Lightfoot asks federal government for help fighting city's crime City grappling with increase in shooting victims this year, data shows.” https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-mayor-lightfoot-federal-help-fighting-crime Accessed 12-21-21.