(Originally published on Chicago Tribune)
It’s been pretty well documented now that the “defund the police” movement was a disaster for American citizens. Even in areas that didn’t reduce police funding, there was a ripple effect from the overall impression the movement created. Police retired or were laid off, leaving many cities understaffed. Criminals felt emboldened, and crime increased.
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed cutting $80 million from the police’s 2021 budget. She then had to backtrack and increase the budget by around $200 million to fight the city’s quickly rising crime problem. However, while the money was back in the budget for officers, few were interested in working for a city that offered them lukewarm support.
According to the Sun-Times, the Chicago Police Department had about 13,000 sworn officers at the beginning of 2021. That number is now 11,900, an 8.5% drop in one year. “More than 175 other officers resigned last year without full retirement benefits or transferred to other police departments,” the newspaper reported.
With crime spiking in many areas of the city, some Chicago neighborhoods are looking to hire private security firms to protect their homes and citizens, according to the Wall Street Journal. The North Side neighborhoods include Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Bucktown. The Journal noted that crimes in Bucktown were up 30% during the first quarter of this year.
However, this will only be a Band-Aid on a much larger problem. These security officers will not be able to make arrests. They will drive around the neighborhoods in security vehicles, and although they will be armed, they are expected to use their phones to call 911 and take pictures of crime. It doesn’t sound like they will be much more than a juiced-up neighborhood watch. They won’t be able to do much other than call for help. Crime victims will still be waiting for an understaffed police force to respond. However, if the case goes to court, they might be able to present photographic evidence of the crime.
This is not the first time that private citizens have looked to private security to take up the slack where their local police forces are falling short. When a 7-year-old girl was shot and killed in Atlanta, people began considering private security.
Atlanta City Council member Howard Shook said in 2020 that it was “obvious that the civilian authorities do not control the streets and cannot provide even a token feeling of safety beyond our front doors.”
The Atlanta Police Department told NBC News that homicides in the city had been rising quickly.
“As of the end of the week 52 reporting period, we are at 154 homicides compared with 99 for the same period of 2019,” Atlanta police Officer Steve Avery said. “That is an increase of 61%.”
While in Chicago it is private citizens hiring security, in Atlanta, those who wanted to hire private security included a City Council member. J.P. Matzigkeit wanted the private security force to work in conjunction with police. He attributed the increasing number of crimes in the city to the mayor’s support of the “defund” movement.
Two council members wound up allocating $125,000 of their municipal funds to a private police force in Atlanta’s Buckhead community.
The knee-jerk reactions from liberals not only have created a weakened police force in many cities, but they have also endangered the citizens of those cities. In particular, they have placed residents in communities that can’t afford to pay for private security in a vulnerable position, and those are the citizens who often need the protection, whether it be from police or private security, the most. Meanwhile, many of the most vocal critics of police enjoy the protection of their own personal security, such as Lightfoot’s personal police protection.
We need to support the police and ensure they have the resources they need to do the job we want them to do.
Michael A. Letts is CEO and founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots nonprofit organization helping communities provide bulletproof vests for police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship and fundraising programs.
