Crime continues to rise across the nation, but many on the left are still treating police as the problem. The Biden Justice Department has announced a new ban on chokeholds and no-knock warrants. Democrat-led cities like Seattle have reduced funding and resources for police, and Minneapolis residents are voting now on whether to disband their entire police department in favor of a "public safety agency." This all happens as homicides are up 42 percent this year compared to the same period in 2019.
The moves to restrict and defund police combined with more than a year of anti-cop rhetoric are taking a toll on the rank and file. "Police officers are very frustrated right now," says Ray Hunt, executive director of the Houston Police Officers Union. "We're beat down, we're overworked because we've got about a thousand officers less than what we need, and then you have these judges who are letting these criminals out as soon as we put 'em in."
Hunt tells KTRH the far left is focusing on the wrong issues when it comes to crime and police. "This kind of stuff about chokeholds and no-knock warrants makes it sound like we're doing these on a daily basis," he says. "We've never done chokeholds in the Houston Police Department, and as far as no-knock warrants, they require the chief of police to authorize them."
"I promise you these folks in Washington, D.C. would have no problem doing no-knock warrants on those nuts that stormed the Capitol back in January."
Hunt maintains the major issue with law enforcement is not police funding or tactics, but the failures of the criminal justice system---notably, judges letting dangerous criminals out on bond. "We are critical condition in Houston, Texas as far as our criminal justice system goes, and the breakdown is the court system," he says. "Nobody in Harris County is going to jail for the things they're doing...they're simply bonding out, then going out robbing, stealing and killing people."
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