Free Republic

Carmen Best, the Seattle police chief, emailed her resignation notice to police officers in the department late Monday hours after the City Council made good on its promise to approve sweeping proposals that would cut about 100 officers and slash the department’s budget. Best’s email, which was obtained by Jason Rantz, a radio host in the city, said that her retirement will be effective Sept. 2. “I wanted you to hear this from me, but some media have reached this conclusion on their own,” she wrote. “This was a difficult decision for me, but when it’s time, it’s time.”

... In a statement last month, his folks insisted: “Biden does not believe that police should be defunded.” Later, though, asked if money should be “redirected” away from cops, he replied, “Yes, absolutely.” And the charter for his alliance with Bernie Sanders vows to “reinvigorate community policing . . . and make smart investments to incentivize departments to build effective partnerships with social workers and mental-health and substance-use counselors” — which aligns with the #Defunders’ goals. Yet, then on Wednesday, as a poll showed 81 percent of blacks want as much, or more, police presence, Biden — lo and behold! — called...

Faizel Khan was being told by the news media and his own mayor that the protests in his hometown were peaceful, with “a block party atmosphere.” Georgia student suspended after posting a photo of a crowded school hallway… Photo flashback: Antonio Banderas's life and career in pictures The New York Times logoAbolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure SEATTLE — Faizel Khan was being told by the news media and his own mayor that the protests in his hometown were peaceful, with “a block party atmosphere.” a man standing in front of a counter:...

Teen Activist Who Rallied to Defund Police and Remove Police from Schools Is Shot Dead in Chicago The young activist spoke out against police.

Much has been made about the “veto-proof” majority of Seattle City Council members who committed on Twitter and elsewhere to cutting 50% of the Seattle Police Department’s budget. But in the near term, the reality is proving more complicated. On Friday, council members for the first time offered specific proposals and timelines for cutting the department’s budget and creating alternative systems to prevent violence and provide community safety. They also urged Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best to prioritize responding to violent crimes and to deprioritize calls that could disproportionally impact communities of color. Only one council member, Kshama Sawant, proposed...

Hundreds of Seattle residents blasted the city council’s plans to slash police funding by as much as 50 percent during a phone-in virtual meeting Wednesday, saying the initiative will only worsen violence and crime. A ‘defund the police’ initiative proposed by the council has been building in strength for months, Q13 Fox reported, but calls against the plan, which would see hundreds of police officers fired, are beginning to grow as well. Just a day after the Seattle Police Officers Guild launched a “Stop Defunding” petition, the organization announced it had collected more than 20,000 signatures. Callers to the council...

Members of the Minneapolis City Council supported the idea of abolishing their city's police department after George Floyd's death in police custody, but a recent vote indicates that the city may not be in any rush to follow through with the plan. The Minneapolis Charter Commission voted earlier this week to keep a police reform proposal off of November's ballot, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. The measure would have scrapped a city requirement to maintain a police force of a size based on the city's population. This was the first of two proposals going before the Charter Commission, with a more...

Brazen robberies and car thefts, often in broad daylight, highlight a growing problem across the city. According to Minneapolis Police Department crime data, there have been 2,170 stolen vehicles this year through July 26. That’s a 46% increase over the same time period in 2019 — when 1,485 auto thefts happened.

“There has been in this province a history of systemic racism, and we have to do better,” [Mayor] Savage said at the time. “This announcement sends a positive message,” said Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto. “I have no doubt that what we call defunding of police … will take hold in Canada.” That money will be spent on housing, social services and a safety task force. In the same vein, police should not be expanding their duties to include what the military is trained to do, because it transforms peace officers into soldiers who see...

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday touted securing the support of half of the Senate Democrats for his amendment to defund the Pentagon by 10 percent and invest in “distressed communities” instead. Sanders’ amendment gained support from 23 members of the Senate Democrat Caucus — half of the 45 Democrats in the Senate. The support was not enough to get the amendment passed and part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, but was a show of support from Democrats for defunding the military. Sanders said in a statement after the vote: "Today, almost half of the members of the Senate...

Police are investigating an act of vandalism at Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's house. "Defund OPD," "homes 4 all," and "blood on your hands" were all spray-painted on the garage, sidewalk and stone wall outside Mayor Schaaf's Oakland home overnight. Witnesses say 30 to 40 people dressed in black and wearing masks shot projectiles and set off fireworks around 2 a.m. Neighbor Yakov Barton said, "I know there's a lot of unrest and frustration and I sympathize with that, but this was jarring and felt like to another level." Harmeet Dhillon, Republican National Committeewoman, said "I think what it shows is...

Since the death of George Floyd, Democrats have pushed this notion of "defunding the police." They have worked overtime to make sure Americans know "defunding" doesn't mean abolishing law enforcement agencies in their entirety. In their eyes, it's about shifting funds from police departments to other necessary services, like education and social workers. For whatever reason, the mainstream media is making the argument that Biden is not in favor of defunding the police. By Democrats' own standards and definitions, he is in favor of defunding the police and reallocating funds that would otherwise go towards police departments to other services....

CLAIM: Joe Biden doesn’t want to abolish or defund the police; he just wants to redirect police funding to other uses. VERDICT: Mostly false. Even many activists say defunding the police and redirecting police funding mean the same thing. Fox News’ Chris Wallace generated buzz on Friday afternoon with the release of a clip from his White House interview with President Donald Trump, which will air in full on Sunday. Wallace “fact-checked” Trump’s claim that Biden wants to abolish or defund the police [...] Trump was incorrect about the “Biden-Sanders Unity” platform, which did not discuss defunding the police. Moreover,...

Broadcast ratings for nearly all of NPR's radio shows took a steep dive in major markets this spring, as the coronavirus pandemic kept many Americans from commuting to work and school. The network's shows lost roughly a quarter of their audience between the second quarter of 2019 and the same months in 2020. People who listened to NPR shows on the radio at home before the pandemic by and large still do. But many of those who listened on their commute have not rejoined from home. And that threatens to alter the terrain for NPR for years to come, said...

The Seattle City Council is suddenly attacking the Seattle Police Department by supporting the defund police movement. But previously, when they needed the votes in the last election, some councilmembers pretended to support law enforcement. One even sought preferential treatment from the police. The council currently holds veto-proof support of a dangerous defund Seattle police movement, which aims to cut the budget by 50% without a concrete plan. All we know is they want community rights groups to take the place of police and move the 911 call center to civilian control. **SNIP** Now, Strauss and Lewis stand to fire...

NYPD Searches for Man Who Choked Woman With Child in Stroller Before Stabbing Her WARNING: The video below may be difficult to watch Published July 15, 2020 • Updated on July 15, 2020 at 6:59 am NBC Universal, Inc. Police are searching for a suspect who was caught on camera A 21-year-old woman was walking with her child in the Bronx when her ex-boyfriend knocked them to the pavement and stabbed the mother multiple times, according to police. Authorities are searching for 25-year-old Carlos Gonzalez who was caught on camera walking alongside the victim on Tuesday evening. Police say Gonzalez and the victim got into...

Norman citizens are uniting to make sure their voices are heard after city leaders cut $865,000 from the police department’s budget. “You’re not helpless. For so long it seems like we were all helpless at the whims of the people in office, but now we’re awake,” Unite Norman leader Russell Smith said. Smith told KOCO 5 that the group has raised closed to $50,000 in just 48 hours and is working to file a petition to recall Mayor Breea Clark and eligible city council members.

Joe Biden said in an interview Wednesday that some funding should “absolutely” be redirected from police, amid calls from some in his party to "defund the police" in the wake of the protests across the country. In response to Biden's new comments, Trump 2020 campaign rapid response director Andrew Clark wrote on Twitter it looked like Biden had “changed his position” on defunding police, adding a clip from the Now This interview.

House Democrats plan to introduce a new bill to defund police departments, establish reparations for Blacks and victims of police brutality, abolish federal law enforcement agencies, and more. Democrat Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley unveiled the BREATHE Act, which has not yet been introduced in the House, calling it “a new vision for public safety.” The bill was created by the Movement for Black Lives, a self-proclaimed abolitionist, anti-capitalist group, who also participated in its unveiling.

The political right needs new strategies “and we ought to steal them from the left," conservative radio host Mark Levin said on “The Mark Levin Show” Tuesday. Levin discussed leftist policies he deemed anti-American, as well as the faction's move to defund police. He also suggested that the president needs more authority to help counter the ideals of the left in the cities it runs. Mediavine “As it is now, the president has to ask the mayor, ‘you need help?’” Levin said. “‘No, I’m doing fine destroying our city. I’m doing fine sitting on my fat ass while little kids...