The rise in U.S. crime raises fears of a “bloody summer” and calls for more police in Black Lives Matter News

Fears of a bloody summer have become the focus of New York’s mayoral race, as residents go to the polls to elect Democratic and Republican candidates in the primaries. rising violent crimes Across the US.

The killings of murder and other violent crimes in 2020 continue to rise nationally, and President Joe Biden will speak on Wednesday on what he will do to “address” the rise in crime, especially gun violence, “as we have seen around the country is the concern of many Americans.” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday.

Pistol crime has risen sharply in major metropolitan areas, and especially in the nation’s largest city, New York. Shooting incidents rose 73% in May 2021 from the previous year as the COVID-19 pandemic receded and New York began to reopen, according to numbers from the New York City Police Department.

That’s piling up in the minds of voters, according to a poll released by NY1 / Ipsos on June 7 (PDF). According to the survey, 46% of voters see crime as a primary concern, with affordable housing at 45 per cent and COVID-19 at 32 per cent.

Democrat Eric Adams, a former captain of the New York City Police Department and president of the Brooklyn neighborhood, has argued that it is best to deal with rising crime rates, and voters seem to be listening.

An Ipsos survey released on June 21 found pollsters likely to see voters see Adams as the best candidate to handle the rise in crime.

The poll suggested Adams was the leader of 11 Democratic candidates with 28 percent support.

Despite being a far cry from the 50 percent threshold needed to win, Adams is still well positioned under New York’s new voting system, which allows New Yorkers to choose candidates by preference, and then expel the lowest-ranking candidates in several rounds. until the winner is selected.

Democratic candidate for mayor of New York Eric Adams speaks at a June 11, 2021 campaign in Brooklyn, New York [Brendan McDermid/Reuters]

Adams has spoken out against calls for “police diversion” after the death of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. George Floyd, saying it was a slogan adopted by the wealthy whites.

Proponents of the diversion have called for these funds to be channeled into other social service programs that focus on crime prevention by improving people’s living conditions.

Black communities disagree with the approach. Adams, a black man, has claimed that more police are needed.

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a well-known New York progressive representative, approved Maya Wiley, calling for a $ 1 billion cut in the NYPD budget, Adams released a statement criticizing both of them for calling for police defense.

“They are putting slogans and policies in front of public safety and they would endanger the lives of New Yorkers,” he said.

A person has a sign that says “Blue Back” during a July 15, 2020 rally in Seattle in support of police and other law enforcement agents. The group was joined by a small group of counter-protesters from the Black Lives Matter and other groups. [File: Ted S Warren/AP Photo]

But a Justice Council investigator (CCJ) investigator Ernesto Lopez told Al Jazeera that “budget cuts could reduce the police’s ability to proactively reduce crime” and that “some research suggests the” funding “party may reduce police motivation and thus limit more proactive policing. “,” is not so sure when that confidence will drive growth [in violence]”.

Increase or deviate

The National Police Order of the Fraternity (FOP) has joined Adams’ sentiment and said cities are “key”Police disbanded‘mafia’, Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests this originated in the United States after Floyd’s death.

The FOP tweeted on May 25 a picture that showed “tremendous murder rates” in many major cities, including New York, Philadelphia. Minneapolis The FOP claimed that in May 2021, 800 percent of homicide rates rose dramatically in Portland, Oregon.

Are there any inventions that these cities have in common?

In addition to being elected to certain positions that do not fulfill their job, the management of all of these cities handed over the keys to the “Unfunded Police” mob. pic.twitter.com/rF5QLskXqE

– National Order of the Fraternity Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) May 25, 2021

Minneapolis and Portland were at the forefront of police diversion, but police budgets were reduced by 5% and 4%, respectively.

The increase in the Portland homicide rate is staggering, but the number of homicides was 10 in May 2021, up from two in May 2020, according to to city data.

The Chicago Tribune said the jump is about 500 percent.

Los Angeles and Chicago they have reduced budgets to the same level, by about 5% in LA and 3% in Chicago. These numbers went far beyond what the activists wanted.

A man is behind a tape of a Chicago police crime scene at the scene of a gun shooting in southern Chicago, Illinois, on July 26, 2020 [File: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters]

Violent crimes in Chicago have increased. The deadliest day in 2021 was June 15, when eight people were killed in the shooting, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

But crime rates are rising in the U.S., regardless of whether police budgets have been reduced, stabilized, or increased. There is little evidence to suggest that the defunding of the police department has increased crime.

The Democratic-led city of Houston and Nashville last year raised money for police. Houston homicides rose 35 percent and Nashville homicides doubled in January and February in 2020 at the same time, according to local average.

Criminologists and other experts warned that the rise in crime is due to several factors. Some are structural and have been part of society for generations. The effects of COVID-19 cannot be ignored either.

CJC research specialist Lopez said “it is also noteworthy that homicides in the first quarter of 2020, before death, were up 20 percent George Floyd“.

Community response

While some have criticized the “dismantled police” model for investing in community-based violence prevention programs, Baltimore’s Safe Streets program promises.

The Safe Streets program called itself a “evidence-based public health program to reduce gun violence among young people.” McElderry Park and Belair-Edison, two historically dangerous neighborhoods in Baltimore, are overseen by Living Classrooms.

“Safe Streets uses outside staff to join the community and mediate conflict before they reach violence, while at the same time hiring young people who have problems or are assigned to be part of the program,” the website said.

A rally against the deaths of black women and girls killed by police has been held in Baltimore on June 19, 2020 at the Juneteenth demonstration against racial and gender inequality. [File: Rosem Morton/Reuters]

The program conducted 661 mediations in 2020 and in that year only four of Baltimore’s 335 murders occurred in the two neighborhoods, according to its website.

Calls for the community to respond to crime fell on the public trust in law enforcement. Last June, 45 percent of people wanted to “keep the law and order” and 44 percent voted for the “right to protest,” a Ipsos poll found.

However, that feeling has changed, according to an Ipsos poll conducted in March, where 31% of respondents voted in favor of the right to protest and 45% wanted to uphold the law and order.

Police have long been criticized in the US. Tensions between police and activists have been steadily strained since 2014 Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot dead by police in Ferguson, Missouri.

Public protests and protests are helping to launch the BLM movement. The killings continued, as did the protests. Confidence in law enforcement plummeted in mid-last year when the U.S. saw consistent protests against racism and police brutality.

Rather than seeing BLM as a factor in crime, perhaps it should be said that it is a “reflection of current social conditions,” Lopez said.

“There is a strong investigation that supports that the legitimacy of the police and the legitimacy of the general government is also declining, crime can go up,” he continued.

“As legitimacy decreases, people are less likely to comply with the law” and “there is less cooperation with the police. This hinders the police’s ability to investigate crime and catch suspects.”