Staff Reports
Residents and business owners in a liberal city in California are afraid for their lives because crime is on the rise in the state as a whole. In Oakland, California, more than 500 people went to a meeting for the neighborhood. People in the crowd were upset that the problem wasn’t being fixed, and they accused the government of ignoring the problem that is causing thousands of people to leave the area. People in the crowd yelled at council members, police department officials, and the acting police captain to show how angry they were.
California Residents Are Fed Up With the Ongoing 'Rampant' Crime Problem
https://t.co/lceCyvkke2— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 3, 2023
The Oakland community meeting was called to talk about the city’s high level of crime. In just one week, there were 100 robberies, and 50 of them happened on a single weekend. The people there talked about being attacked, having their cars stolen, and being shot at. One business owner said that he and his employees had been held at gunpoint four times in the past six years. Another person said that she had been beaten badly on the corner of a well-known street.
The number of thefts in Oakland has gone up by 7% in the last year, according to police records. Officials say, though, that the problem is “multi-tiered” and won’t be solved by just fixing police problems. Council members and police leaders talked about what they would do to reduce crime.
As usual, Democrats are quick to shift the blame away from the policies they have made that have failed. It’s clear that most murders happen in places run by Democrats, where they push for policies that aren’t tough on crime. The number of murders in big U.S. cities has gone up by more than 10% in the last two years, according to a WalletHub study. Cities with the highest murder rates include Memphis, Tennessee, New Orleans, Louisiana, Richmond, Virginia, Washington, DC, and Detroit, Michigan. All of these cities are run by mayors who are on the left.
The rise in crime is caused by liberal policies that aren’t working, which is pushing social groups that want to cut money for the police. When liberal politicians give in to pressure from progressives, it makes cities less safe because criminals don’t have to worry about the cops stopping them. Assistant professor at Western New England University Chidike Okeem said that liberal, progressive cities that push the “defund the police” trend are to blame for the rise in murders. The answer is clear: we need a strong police presence to keep people safe. Without it, crime will only get worse.
