Guess who is defunding their police department?

The City of Austin, Capitol city of Texas.

That is hard to believe.

The Austin City Council, a hotbed of progressive, didn’t completely defund the police – they just cut $150,000,000.00 from the police budget out of a total budget of $4,200,000,000.00.

The original budget called for about $434 million for the police. The cut is not due to a revenue shortfall. The $150,000,000.00 was redirected to “community programs” like mental health, violence prevention, a family violence shelter and victim services. It will also go to parks, trails, abortions, substance abuse and other liberal causes.

Why would a city of more than a million in Texas make such a drastic cut to the police department?

People some disgruntled protesters showed up to a city council meeting and demanded the defunding and dismantling of the police department.

The funding cuts will eliminate three cadet classes, almost eliminate overtime pay, reduce records management and virtually stop the mounted patrol unit.

And the council voted to move money in the direction of an “alternative form of public safety” – translation: people policing themselves.

This is madness.

State legislators (who only hold sessions every other year) are upset and looking for ways to remedy this travesty.

Do the Austin councilors really think that defunding the police will make crime drop? Do they think the steps they took – as drastic as they were – will placate the protesters? The answer to both is no.

There are outside forces stirring up racial hatred who are are targeting law enforcement. The vast majority of police officers are not racist. This isn’t about race. It’s about the end of law and order with a view to changing the United State government.

And it’s happing in Texas.

In Norman, citizens collected more than 21,000 signatures on a petition to recall Mayor Breea Clark and Council Sereta Wilson and Councilor Alison Petrone. Wilson resigned and said she was moving.

Why the recall?

Most of the residents in town are furious that progressives (and they are a lot in Norman) on the council voted to cut $865,0000.00 from the town’s budget for the police department. Instead, they diverted that money to “community programs.”

Again, protesters marched into the council meeting and demanded “racial justice.” They wanted Norman police to “stop killing black people.” (Of course, that is a spurious charge).

A group of conservative citizens rallied and formed Unite Norman and started the recall petitions. Thirty percent of the people who signed the petition are Democrats. They are also fed up with progressive moves to defund police.

The Norman police are grateful for the show of support.

This is madness.

The New York City police union has endorsed President Trump for re-election. It is unheard of for that union to make a presidential endorsement and it is almost impossible for a conservative Republican to get that nod.

Why the switch to Trump and why endorse anyone?

First, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a far-left progressive, cut the police budget by $1,000,000,000.00. That’s a billion dollars.

The mayor’s ever-increasing lack of support for law enforcement has not only led to a wave of early retirement by career officers but has shut down desperately needed police academies for replacements.

And some officers in big cities have thrown up their hands and given up.  They arrest rioters and progressive district attorneys refuse to file charges or liberal judges empty the jails.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, where this current campaign against police started, Mayor Jacob Frey said he expects to lose 100 police officers by the end of the year. Dozens have already left and at least 150 officers want “duty disability” for the stress they have been under due to the riots in that city.

Minneapolis created the “Office of Violence Prevention” to offset its plan to abolish the police department. That office will field teams of 15-20 “community outreach workers” to end crime in that city.

Right.

Part of the problem is that the mainstream media – NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and others – promote the elimination of law enforcement. They ignore the riots and frame them as “peaceful protests.” They are pushing the coronavirus pandemic to damage President Trump politically and they ignore the riots (all of which are in cities run by Democrats) because they think it will damage Joe Biden’s chances.

Many criminals are smart enough to know that if there are not enough police or no police at all, they can literally get away with murder. And even if they get caught breaking into a store window in broad daylight, the criminals understand that the DA won’t file charges or those charges will be dropped by a judge appointed by a progressive Democrat.

Gun sales are setting new records in America because common citizens fear that there won’t be enough police to help them in the fight against crime.

Thank God for the Tulsa Police Department, Police Chief Wendell Franklin, Tulsa Sheriff Vic Regalado and Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler.

We will not defund the Tulsa Police Department or the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department and unless State Question 805 passes, Oklahoma will put criminals where they belong – behind bars.