You may perhaps be unaware that my formal training is in psychology, with an emphasis in the study and treatment of abnormal and criminal behavior. In fact, I was intending to become a criminologist and profiler but that little unpleasantness in Vietnam a few decades back jumped up and got in the way.
But from my training I know that just about 3% of the population is likely to suffer from, and project, deviant and antisocial behavior. That means they cause problems. Sometimes big problems...
These folks can be dangerous to themselves or others. Enough so that some of that 3% should be confined to protect the general public. As in, warehoused for public safety.
And we know that about 3% of our populace is historically likely to offend, and therefore just about 3% of our population are police and sheriff's deputies and U.S. marshals and courthouses and district attorneys and prisons and prison guards.
Just about 3% of our population.
Most on the Right are calling for a dramatic increase in the number of our law enforcement personnel, BTW, and almost always has. Whilst those on the Left have been loudly calling for a dramatic reduction in all these categories and almost always has. Some Lefties even call for eliminating the police altogether, somehow deducing that those likely to offend will then see the error of their ways and take to the straight and narrow, holding hands and strolling peacefully into the sunset.
Say wha...?
So some 880,000 law enforcement personnel are employed in America trying to "protect and serve." While an unknown number of law breakers are trying their best to make sure they don't. And that number does not include private security guards, whose job is only to observe and report. To the cops. There are more than 200,000 of them, however, carrying their flashlights and their walkie-talkies, which can't hurt in terms of overall law enforcement.
And oh by the way, we have some 1,566,000 incarcerated in our prisons and jails Nationwide.* Of these, 120,000 are in Federal prisons and 285,000 are in jails. 151,000 are in juvenile homes and facilities. 186,000 are in immigration detention. And 86,000 are in American Indian reservation jails. Note that this number represents almost 6% of our population. But then again, we've put bars between them and us.
Through the decades we've maintained this delicate and precarious balance. About 3% watching the 97%, hopefully available to "protect and serve" should the circumstance warrant. But what would happen if, say, those on the Left began to demonize the police and demand that they be defunded.
Or even eliminated!
And what if their clarion call to eliminate the police was answered by Leftists on city councils in most all of our Big Blue cities. Those owned and operated by Democrats. For generations, in some cases. Like Chicago, and NYC, and Portland, and Seattle, and Baltimore, and Philadelphia. To the extent they chose not to prosecute criminals for their crimes. What if they continued to let them offend, time after time, believing somehow that to do so would be racist or sexist, or maybe harmful to the environment.
And what if that significant defunding of police simultaneously resulted in, 1) cops leaving those cities in droves, escaping to the suburbs where they'd earn more and be both safer and more appreciated; and 2), a dramatic increase in all sorts of crime because there was no cops around to prevent them from doing so, or catching them if they did. Cause and effect.
Duh!
But there's no "what if's," in this scenario, fellow Patriots. Because it has actually happened. Most of those Big Blue cities harassed and abused and blamed and defunded their police, and watched them bolt for the exits. They either retired or quit outright. New Yawk City is down 456 cops from full staffing levels. Chicago is down more than 500. Portland is down 246. And these cities pay their cops boatloads of money! And in Every Single Case their crime rates have skyrocketed! Up an overall 40%, at least! Chicago's murder rate was an all-time high of 902 last year. With a...ready for it?...08% clearance rate. That means, they found the killer(s). Or, in Chicago's case, 92% of the time they didn't...
And FYI, our national murder rate had been on a downward trajectory for more than 25 years, while the number of firearms in our society was simultaneously doubling. Cause and effect?Draw your own conclusions. But now our Nation's murder rate has increased dramatically over the past two years. Up more than 24%! Cause and effect?
Will they ever get this back in balance? The percentage of evil-doers not doing, and those sworn to stop them, stopping them? Will prospective criminals ever fear the cops and a conservative society's backlash once again and simply NOT DO THE CRIME? They sure as Hell don't now. And they won't, until or unless the leadership of those city councils that shat upon their cops are voted out and replaced with those who are tough-on-crime.
Lost Angeles' city council is telling its citizens to dress down, to not wear expensive watches, or carry expensive handbags, or drive expensive cars. They even advise taking an Uber so as avoid becoming a carjacking statistic. All while their dwindling number of stores are locking up the toothpaste and the laundry soap. I'd like to ask, wouldn't it be better to "flood the zone" with cops and stop Bad Guys from committing crimes in the first place?
Or is that just old fashioned me?
Remember, to a professional thief, risking getting caught is a part of doing business. They weigh the risks and then decide whether or not to proceed. They calculate and then decide. If they judge the risk as too great, they won't do the crime. Simple.
Will we ever again restore that delicate and precarious balance? I'm thinking that, just like alcoholics and drug addicts, those Big Blue city councils and legislatures will have to hit bottom before they'll decide to crawl their way back up. Before they shed their failed Leftist ideologies and begin to make wise decisions. I just hope there are still citizens left in those towns and states when they finally come to their senses.** They may all be living in Vegas or Texas or Sunny Florida by then...
* You know I do my research, right?
** 560,000 Californians have left for greener pastures since 2021. And almost all the pastures are greener...
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