Police Group Says 'Left-Leaning Policies' and 'Vilification of Law Enforcement' Directly Linked to Crime Spikes

Police Group Says 'Left-Leaning Policies' and 'Vilification of Law Enforcement' Directly Linked to Crime Spikes


A spokeswoman for the National Police Association has blamed “left-leaning policies” as well as demonization of police officers for massive spikes in crime across the United States, along with a rising anti-cop sentiment.

Betsy Brantner Smith made her remarks in the latest episode of Unmuted With Martha, a Facebook-centric program hosted by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) that airs on Wednesday.

The Daily Wire, which obtained early access to the show, reports:

The National Police Association is a law enforcement advocacy group that educates on law enforcement tactics and aims to build better relationships between officers and the communities they serve. That relationship has been strained recently following the death of George Floyd while in police custody and the 2020 outbreak of protests against alleged racially biased policing, some of which evolved into riots.

Blackburn began asking Smith about the recent crime spikes that have wracked major American cities in the past two years, dating back to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the conflagration of massive amounts of civil unrest after the jury-adjudicated murder of Floyd. Smith said that part of the crime spike is due to the “vilification of law enforcement” that has continued since Floyd’s death.

“We’ve had this war on cops and, quite frankly, a war on the justice system really since 2014, since the justified police shooting of Michael Brown. But for the last 19 months, since the death of George Floyd, we have had this vilification of law enforcement,” Smith said, adding that “left-leaning policies” which allow criminals back into society are also driving the spike in crime.

“The de-prosecution, the refusal to prosecute violent criminals and a host of other, quite frankly, all left-leaning policies … have allowed violent criminals back on the street, have allowed police officers to be vilified,” she said.

“So many police officers have left the job or gone to other areas of the country where they are going to be better appreciated,” Smith noted. “And this whole storm, quite frankly, that we have seen for the last 19 months has led to the homicide of 5,000 more Americans in 2021 than in 2020 and 2020 was a terrible year.”

Some mostly red state governors have attempted to take advantage of the police officer exodus from mismanaged and dangerous blue cities where ‘progressive’ district attorneys and prosecutors have refused to uphold the laws. Governors in states like Florida and Tennessee have been actively recruiting disaffected officers to their pro-law enforcement states; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted a state legislature-passed program offering officers a $5,000 relocation bonus.

Later in the program, Smith blasted the left-wing calls for ‘bail reform,’ which she says is “really a lack of putting someone in custody to either await trial or to even be punished for a crime.”

“We get all these criminals – many who have committed gun crimes, sex crimes, and other terrible felonies – they are released with no bail, and they maybe have an ankle bracelet to monitor them. But they are back on the streets to offend again and again and again,” Smith told the Tennessee senator.


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