The tragic thing is, the cause of defunding the police is killing real people. Look at a new report in the Washington Post from Minneapolis, one of the nation’s centers of anti-police activism: “Minneapolis violence surges as police officers leave department in droves.”

“Homicides in Minneapolis are up 50 percent,” the paper reported, “with 75 people killed across the city so far this year. More than 500 people have been shot, the highest number in more than a decade and twice as many as 2019. And there have been more than 4,600 violent crimes — including hundreds of carjackings and robberies — a five-year high.”

Remember that on June 26, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to abolish the city’s Police Department and create something called the Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention which would provide “public safety services prioritizing a holistic, public health-oriented approach.”

It was absolutely insane, of course. But that’s what the council did. Since that time, the effort has faltered and all but collapsed. But the police got the message. Officers began retiring in record numbers.