Reuters isn’t Newsmax or even the Epoch Times or even Fox News. In the wake of 9/11, its global news editor declared, “We all know that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, and that Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist.” I mention this merely to establish that the report quoted below doesn’t emanate from some far right ghetto.
In a special report posted today, titled, “After Floyd's killing, Minneapolis police retreated, data shows”, Reuters describes how police in Minneapolis gave up on policing after the George Floyd riots and the consequences of that experiment.
In the months that followed, few cities wrestled more with the question of what the future of American law enforcement should be than Minneapolis. Officials here floated attempts to overhaul, shrink or even abolish the city’s besieged police force – so far with no success.
In the interim, an examination by Reuters found, Minneapolis’ police officers imposed abrupt changes of their own, adopting what amounts to a hands-off approach to everyday lawbreaking in a city where killings have surged to a level not seen in decades. . . .
“There isn’t a huge appetite for aggressive police work out there, and the risk/reward, certainly, we’re there and we’re sworn to protect and serve, but you also have to protect yourself and your family,” said Scott Gerlicher, a Minneapolis police commander who retired this year. “Nobody in the job or working on the job can blame those officers for being less aggressive.”
In the year after Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, the number of people approached on the street by officers who considered them suspicious dropped by 76%, Reuters found after analyzing more than 2.2 million police dispatches in the city. Officers stopped 85% fewer cars for traffic violations. As they stopped fewer people, they found and seized fewer illegal guns. . . .
Fewer stops led to fewer people being searched for guns or drugs. The month before Floyd was killed, police made 90 drug arrests, police records show. A year later, they made 28. The number of people charged with breaking gun laws dropped by more than half, even as shootings multiplied.
The less active policing triggers mixed responses. For some critics who have long sought crackdowns on aggressive officers, the pulling back on traffic stops as a pretext to search for guns or drugs, for instance, could be seen as a step forward. But for citizens affected by the escalating gun violence, the reduced police presence has triggered a fear that criminals can act with impunity. . . .
The increased workload – fewer officers, more crime – played a role in making police less proactive, said one officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But the officer said patrol units also now choose to ignore minor violations that they might previously have used to attempt to stop someone and search for guns or drugs. The officer added that police sometimes deliberately take a longer route than necessary to respond to calls – mostly in the hope that whatever the problem was, it will be resolved by the time they arrive.
In April, the average response time to priority 911 calls was 40% longer than it had been a year earlier, Reuters found.
All the while, the number of murders in Minneapolis is on track to reach a 20-year high. In the 12 months after Floyd’s death, the number of outdoor shootings detected by specially designed microphone arrays set up in two of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods more than doubled, dispatch records show.
So far this year, 65 people have been murdered in Minneapolis. Police fielded 91 reports of shootings in May, nearly double the number the previous year, dispatch records show. Violent crimes shot up in June 2020 and have remained more frequent.
Some of us remember the 1970’s first hand. Nobody ever shot at me, but I was mugged three times during the three and a half years that I lived in New York City.
One morning, after a heavy snowfall, I was treading gingerly along the narrow shoveled path in front of my apartment building. A big man bounded in front of me, flourished a knife as long as a small sword and demanded money. I gave him what was in my pocket. Thankfully, he was satisfied. A few days later, leafing through the Daily News, I saw his photograph. He had been arrested for slashing someone’s throat, and Judge Bruce “Turn ‘em loose” Wright had granted him bail. About that time, I began to think that I might live more safely somewhere else.
But who am I to deny the younger generations the chance to share the full range of human experience?
Further Reading: PowerLine has posted a Ring video of a drive-by shooting “in a normal Minneapolis neighborhood” with accompanying commentary.
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