Not only is the crime rate still on the rise across the U.S., so are the number of Americans who are in support of -funding- the police!
A new poll shows that adults who want spending on police increased in their area has tripled since last summer, up 47% from 11%.
"People want to feel safe in their communities and right now they don't, and that's a problem" said Doug Griffith who is the president of Houston Police Officers Union, "People are starting to see that we are the ones that hold the line against the violent offenders, and there has to be enough police officers to deal with the issue, and right now we don't have that."
We also don't have enough officers here in Houston, now 300 less than we did in 1998. Part of the problem is low pay.
"When you have your guys coming into the academy at $43,000 that's a problem" Griffith told KTRH, "They can go out into the public sector and make double that right off the bat."
The other surprise from the poll was that the number of those who wanted to defund the police was also down significantly.
"All these places that defunded, you see now that they are having issues" Griffith says, "Defunding is just a bad idea."
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