The City of Oakland (California) is the latest politically liberal city to refund and rehire police as criminals are running amok due to left-leaning, feckless leadership in far too many cities around the country.
However, the problem is far greater than a lack of funding and cops in patrol cars. It’s also the inability to keep criminals in jail.
From Los Angeles to New York and every major city in between, various “bail reform” movements have created a series of catastrophes. Law Officer covers these tragic scenarios daily–one career criminal after another committing a horrific offense when he should have been in custody due to past crimes.
Harris County (Houston area) in Texas has literally experienced dozens of homicides committed by offenders out of custody with low bail or no bail regardless of violent priors.
What do you say to the families of these predators, “Sorry, our bad”?
Actually, misguided and corrupt politicians won’t even offer that much. They simply go into hiding when these horrible crimes occur, but return to espouse their political agenda when the circumstances are right.
Most recently, we can point to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where Darrell Brooks was released on a pittance $1,000 bail shortly before the vehicular attack that killed six and injured about 60 Christmas parade participants.
Commissioner Cedric Cornwall agreed to the ridiculously low bail for Brooks, despite this list of facts in the case:
- Brooks was in custody for punching a woman, stealing her phone and running her over with the same vehicle used during the parade massacre.
- Brooks had pending charges for a firearms felony and an active warrant out of Nevada in addition to priors for skipping bail.
- Brooks has a 50-page rap sheet spanning three states and stretching back to 1999, with numerous convictions for violent felonies.
Even the accused mass murderer’s mother reportedly said she regretted helping him regain his freedom, according to a New York Post report citing a conversation with an unnamed ex-girlfriend of the suspect.
Our lock-up facilities have people with similar rap sheets walking free thousands of times every day, but the general public is unaware that it’s happening until we have a national tragedy.
“He was out of custody before the ink dried on the paper,” is a frequent comment from arresting officers of career criminals, like Darrell Brooks.
So it’s good news that some liberal jurisdictions are getting a wake-up call and trying to augment depleted patrol forces. Nevertheless, an overwhelming amount of police officers on the street cannot keep pace with revolving doors at custodial facilities.
Furthermore, law enforcement agencies also need to be free to do the work they are trained for.
After posting the recent article about the City of Oakland having a sober moment and making a move to hire more cops, Law Officer reader John Christopher posted a succinct comment that touches on this topic.
“Funding is useless without community support and political backing. Hiring more officers is meaningless if you’re still preventing them from doing their job,” Christopher wrote.
He is spot on! All of the politicians that are having an epiphany due to violent crime need to take a step back and let police do their job while they (cities, counties, courts, legislatures, etc.) need to work to keep career criminals in jail in order to protect the citizens who are living in fear. Otherwise, we are all simply spitting in the wind and the blowback is nasty.
