Can We Get Back to Tougher Policing?

Yet this law-enforcement revolution sparked acrimonious pushback from antipolice academics and activists—aided, in no small part, by how often the concept of Broken Windows policing was misinterpreted and distorted, much to the frustration of its originators. These distortions became more influential as crime continued its downward trajectory nationwide during the first decade of the twenty-first century, as large urban police departments focused on developing counterterrorism capabilities in a post-9/11 world and as a new generation of urban residents came of age with little or no awareness of recent history. Progressive critics argued for rolling back proactive policing measures and for lessening criminal-justice penalties; and a series of viral police use-of-force incidents, beginning in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, built momentum for these efforts, while intensifying hostility toward law enforcement. The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 served as the movement’s apex, triggering the deadliest urban riots in the United States since the 1960s amid widespread condemnation of police.

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Perhaps not coincidentally, 2020 marked the largest one-year homicide spike in at least 100 years. Four years later, with crime—particularly gun violence—still well above pre-2020 levels in many U.S. cities, calls for American police to return to their mid-1990s crime-fighting approach have gotten louder. Unfortunately, this appeal, while entirely justified, cannot be practically pursued in the current environment. Two massive obstacles block the return of Broken Windows–style policing: the police workforce crisis; and the demonization of cops, and of policing itself, as racist. The kind of policing that led to one of the safest generations on record for American cities cannot be revived until these obstacles are surmounted.

Ed Morrissey

Until we stop treating George Floyd as some sort of hero/martyr, neither of those obstacles will ever be surmounted. This is the anniversary of his death, and the president of the United States wants to commemorate Floyd's contribution to society, which was to be a drug user and passer of counterfeit currency. He didn't deserve to die for that, but there's still a lot of doubt as to what exactly killed him, too. 

The myth of George Floyd is what has driven the radical-progressive DA project funded by Soros and others. The media plays along with it in order to keep the chaos growing. But it may be about to backfire on the progressive elite in November, as voters won't tolerate chaos for long. How do people think "broken-windows" policing finally got tried in New York?

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