Portland, Ore. — The city of Portland was one of the first cities to jump on the “defund the police” bandwagon with Mayor Ted Wheeler supporting a cut of 16 million dollars to the police department in June 2020. The move was quickly followed by more than 100 consecutive days of violent riots, which have continued in 2021.
Portland already had 20 homicides and 208 shootings as of March 1, 2021. Last year, however, there was just one homicide during the same three-month time period.
But don’t expect Mayor Wheeler to sell t-shirts that say “I defunded the police and all I got was a 1900% increase in murders” anytime soon. Instead, Mayor Wheeler has sheepishly requested two million dollars in emergency funding so the police department can actually address the violence. The department is still short fourteen million dollars in resources.
In addition to the spike in violence, the city continues to see riots, including the attempt to burn down the federal courthouse with employees inside just a week ago. Unfortunately, Portland is not the only city that has adopted “defunding the police measures”—and Portland is certainly not the only city suffering a significant increase in homicides and violent crime.
And the increase of homicides from 2019 to 2020 in most major cities indicates how many politicians and city leaders have drastically compromised public safety.
Editor’s note: While many news headlines are reporting a “2000% increase,” the actual increase from 1 to 20 is 1,900% (not 2,000): (20-1 x 100% / 1 = 1,900%).
