Phil Mendelson
Washington, D.C., Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Washington, D.C.’s city council in the summer of 2020 voted to slash millions from the police budget. Now, as homicides surge in the nation’s capital, liberal council members want more cops. 

After D.C. saw 13 homicides in just the first five days of August, left-wing council members Brianne Nadeau and Phil Mendelson touted their efforts to secure more resources for police, with Nadeau especially stressing the city’s “hot spots.” Those efforts mark a stark turnaround for the council members, both of whom voted to cut $15 million from the city’s police budget at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020. Nadeau at the time endorsed “calls to defund MPD” and “get police out of schools,” while Mendelson praised a 2021 police reform report that lamented D.C.’s “harmful over-reliance on policing and incarceration” and called for a “realignment and reduction of MPD’s size, responsibilities, and budget.”

Nadeau and Mendelson’s sudden support for additional policing reflects the political toxicity of the “defund the police” movement, which swept liberal cities following George Floyd’s death but has since prompted backlash. City officials in New York and Los Angeles, for example, cut funding for police in 2020 only to restore law enforcement budgets a year later, citing spikes in violent crime.

D.C. Police Union chairman Gregg Pemberton said the council’s “flip-flop” reflects an effort to avoid blame “regarding exponential increases in violent crime.”

—Alec Schemmel in DC’s City Council Slashed Police Funding. Now, Its Members Want More Cops as Shootings Plague City.

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66 COMMENTS

    • Over 74% of felons and criminal gang members and general street crime criminals register as Democrats, which is the key reason why liberal lawmakers and governors and mayors and liberal public office holders are eager for them to not be in jail or let out of jail as they want them in the voting booth.

      For example, for these criminals: In New York 70% are Democrats, 9% Republican – New Mexico ~61% Democrats, 11% Republican – North Carolina 58% Democrat, 11% Republican.

      And for example, 73% of these criminals who do turn out for presidential elections vote Democrat.

      So yeah, its to the liberals advantage to keep criminals out of jail as much as possible and to keep crime rising and proliferating – it translates to vote for them to keep them in power.

      Our increasing crime today was not caused by Trump, or MAGA, or right-wing or conservative – it was created by the left wing and they facilitate and embolden it for money or votes to stay in power. In short, its like everything the left wing does – its for money and votes.

      • I think the rationale is reasonable, but you are connecting dots just because they are close to one another. The correct line connecting the dots is probably more circuitous.

        Suppose, for the sake of my argument, that criminals don’t vote. (A few do, but I suspect not many. And even if they ALL voted, they are not numerous.) Under this supposition, your thesis falls apart. Now, let me draw a more circuitous line.

        Suppose that these criminals are from a “tribe” – be it racial or ethnic – that is quite large. Therefore, very important to The Party. These criminals enjoy the empathy of fellow members of their tribe. A myth develops that the criminal justice system is unjustly harsh on members of “our tribe”. Therefore, the voting members of the tribe are inclined to cut a lot of slack for their criminal members who they give the benefit of the doubt.

        This effect should be offset by – and to the extent that – these criminals tend to prey on members of their own tribe. But this effect seems to have little impact. Members of this tribe are not beating down the doors of their politicians asking for more vigorous law-enforcement.

        Our problem is a political problem. It persuading the non-criminal members of the tribe to identify with their vested interest in law-and-order rather than tribal solidarity with their criminal preditors.

        A prerequisite is developing community relations; and not just the lip-service being paid to that term today.

        Cops will have to be trained and compelled to bend-over-backwards to show the same respect of presumptive innocence to members of this tribe that they show to us OFWGs. Even in the face of supreme confidence that the suspect is provably guilty.

        Government officials – especially at the municipal level – have to give-up on the idea that they can milk this tribe for fine revenue for broken tail lights and the like. The cost of indulging a lot of petty infractions may be less than the cost of festering serious crime that can’t be quelled because the tribe will maintain tribal solidarity.

        Ultimately, the tribe might continue to vote for politicians who legislate and enforce against their own interests. Once one has a religious conviction that he identifies with The Party, it may be impossible to achieve a reformation in political thinking. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile making the efforts that are identifiable.

        The “police power” to regulate for public safety, health and morals is vested with the states and their municipalities. This was the Constitutional intent of the 10th Amendment to avoid the Boston Massacre, where central government (British) troops over-policed the good citizens of that city.

        Those of us who live in the suburbs and rural areas need to persuade those of the major city tribes that they have the power of the vote to decide how their municipal police will police them. If they want harsh police, they shall have them. If they want benevolent police, all they need do is vote for different candidates. If that is in the primary election of The Party’s nomination process, so be it. If that needs to be voting for candidates of an opposing party, they might need to question their religious loyalty to The Party.

        • Rural and suburban folks will start feeling the violence more & more. Urban goons have cars and will drive out to the unsuspecting greener pastures for fun & profit.

        • The criminals don’t HAVE to actually physically vote. The demtards will take care of the act on behalf of the criminal. Multiple times. There is no longer a need for bus loads driving from poll to poll.

      • 40 Caliber:
        Where did you get those numbers about felons voting? It is my understanding that felons can’t vote in virtually every jurisdiction…

        • Dead people can’t vote either but dead Chicago Democrats have been voting for decades.

          Non-US Citizens legally can’t vote either, but there are indications that at least a few manage to.

          Just because there is a law on who can vote, don’t assume everyone will follow it.

        • “Where did you get those numbers about felons voting? It is my understanding that felons can’t vote in virtually every jurisdiction…”

          1. I got the percentages from numerous studies that surveyed actual voting criminals.

          2. Voting rights for people convicted of a felony > https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_rights_for_people_convicted_of_a_felony

          In many states, convicted felons on parole or probation (or a diversion program) can legally vote.

      • Stop, felons can not
        vote in most states. Do you actually think gangbangers are going to take a time out to go vote?
        To register you must have an address. Not many crooks I know want the man knowing their address.
        Oh and theBiden’s illegal immigrants voting demoncrat, not going to happen. Their whole lives have evolved around becoming the grey man. Voting might get you shot. Here there anywhere.
        Crooks and Illegals stay away from “the system ” as much as they can.

        • See “.40 cal Booger” comments above.

          To which I’d also add democrat vote harvesting. That demographic is probably one of the few (many?), that are very easy to work, AND where they don’t have to worry about pushback.

        • “To register you must have an address. ”

          Hmmm, no. Not any more. Now, in all 50 states, the requirement is to only require people registering to vote to list a place they “consider their residence” (no, they don’t need to actually live there) or where they sleep at night and it does not need to have an actual address (e.g. 123 Sesame Street) and can be something like “sleep at night on park benches”. This change was made so homeless people can register to vote.

          However, you must provide a mailing address (some place you can receive mail). And this also does not need to be your residence and can even be a, for example, shelter or a business.

          “Stop, felons can not
          vote in most states. Do you actually think gangbangers are going to take a time out to go vote?”

          Yes, “gangbangers” do take time out to vote. Maybe not all of them in every election, but they do vote. We had a very large gangbanger presence voting when they wanted to vote in a ‘progressive democrat’ mayor (the progressive lost anyway). The criminals always (mostly) turn out to vote if they think they can get a ‘progressive’ left winger into office.

          Yes, felons can vote in most states. I posted about this further back up.

          Where have you been possum? felons and gangbangers have been voting for years and you are just now hearing about it?

        • “Thanks for the info about felons voting. I had no idea!”

          One thing to keep in mind –

          If felons regain the right to ‘keep and bear arms (guns, and that’s likely to happen)’, that also means they should be allowed to vote…

  3. I am absolutely shocked… I cannot imagine criminals NOT responding to a reduced police presence by becoming law abiding citizens… WTF?

  4. My main comment is DUUUUUUUHHHHHH! These leftists exist in a Jr high school mob mentality bubble surrounded by superficial thinking, platitudes, and popular chic sound bites that prevent any reality testing. They’ve run our cities for decades to where the cities are now totally trashed.

  5. Defund Police…
    Exponential Increase In Violent Crime…

    Gee Whiz…
    Who would have ever thunk it?

  6. Even somebody with a Joe Biden level IQ has to realize that defunding the police is going to lead to an increase in crime. I know there are bad cops out there, but there as a general rule they are better than street thugs!

    • Joe is a pathological narcissist who ONLY acts on self interest! He’ll act to stave off losing votes and act to gain votes, so he’ll support it if he thinks it will get him votes from the radicals and oppose it if he feels he’ll lose votes from the independents.

  7. No it’s too late. The libertarians and liberals and the left cannot take back the terrible things they said about the police. And they cannot take back their total support for ordering the police to stand down.

    They supported the rioters in 2020 they never supported the police.
    Trust has been broken between the police and the citizens.
    Police officers are quitting and retiring at an accelerated rate. The three L’s have created a climate where the police are not believed in many situations.

    Every major American city will become a zombie Apocalypse. Because every major American city is run by the Democrat party. The democrats cannot pay someone enough money in order to be a policeman in their city.

    So the democrats will hire criminals to be police officers. People with violent felonies on the records. The district of columbia has already been reported to have hired criminals in the past.

    • Nah, a few will get close out of stubborn pride/stupidity but most will channel the 90’s crime bill rebranded into something equitable and empowering criminals to improve their lives (in a cell).

    • I fear this is true. And the consequences for inner-city residents is horrific.

      Cops are leaving municipal service and using their LEOSA privilege to work as private security guards.

      Men-of-means with property to defend will hire retired cops to perform private security. The socialization of the policing effort will be limited. These private security guards will defend the businesses and residents within the scope of their commercial mandate. They will not patrol the community generally. They will not pursue preditors preying on citizens not their clients.

      The politicians will continue to collect campaign contributions from men-of-means. They will rely on Party loyalty to get the votes from inner-city residents. (Or, simply print the ballots with the right boxes checked.)

    • Chris, if the liberals can’t take back what they said then neither can many in the comments section here. When I began visiting this site I was dumbfounded by the amount of anti LE vitriol I found here. That all went away with the BLM/Defund LE movement. I guess the POTG figured it out a little quicker than the liberals.

  8. What?
    They just woke up to find that without the police the majority of their denizens are not law abiding citizens?
    Without police around to enforce laws crime goes up?
    Shocking!

  9. Now, hopefully more people will become open to the idea. That the government should not have the exclusive right to using deadly force.

    It will be better if every citizen is allowed to kill anyone who steals from them. Damages their private property. Vandalizes their private property.

    Because currently, representatives of the government are trying to kill criminals who steal from them.

  10. This is the major, most obvious difference between conservative, and liberal or “progressive” thinking. We conservatives are not averse to change – but we want to study it, consider the ramifications, talk it out, and when that horse is about dead, then we might implement the change. Maybe.

    Progressives pull an idea out of their arses, and put it into effect before the turd has dried.

    The first time I heard “defund the police” I thought, “That could be a good idea. We’ve legalized pot, and there always have been too many revenue collectors on the highway. Let’s think about cutting funds . . . ” Not progressives. It’s got to be done NOW, because Biden said some nonsense about “the soul of our nation”.

    Idiots. And, not one of them will apologize for being total fokwits.

    • All depends on one’s emotional maturity. Lefties are emotionally unstable, impulsive, angry, demanding adolescents. Thinking is not part of their skill set!

      • Sorry, there’s no money in the coffers to either wall off the cities nor to re- man the popo. All of those funds were pissed away on “systemic justice programs”.
        Best outcome now is to sit back with popcorn at the ready and watch them burn to the ground.

  12. I still laugh at pro-2A people who think the police actually help stop crime. I say defund them as they are a waste of money. You are your own first responder. The fuzz simply gets there after the fact and fills out the paperwork while the corner draws the chalk lines around the victims before bagging them up to haul to the morgue.

    If they actually do arrest a bad guy the Soros prosecutor lets them right back onto the street. That’s where the real issue lies. Put violent people in jail and keep them there. Put them to work in the lithium mines so they can pay their costs of incarceration.

    • “Put violent people in jail and keep them there.”

      The downside is that speech is considered violence. Thus, you (and I) could end up forever in jail because our words insulted someone and made them feel violated.

      • Speech is violence, “silence is violence”… WTF is NOT violence? It’s violence if you use the wrong pronoun when addressing some confused moron or speak out at a School Board meeting, if you vote for the wrong person or if you inadvertently “brandish” your concealed firearm… There should be a law providing for signage to be publicly posted listing every little innocuous thing that is now considered “violence”, Pretty sure it’s a very long list and would take some time to absorb however, you don’t want to incur the wrath of some hurt feeelz Snowflake, it could get ugly…

        • “…however, you don’t want to incur the wrath of some hurt feeelz Snowflake, it could get ugly…”

          For some reason, I think that is the intent.

  14. St. George was martyred by fentanyl.

    Nobody wants to be a cop now because many states and cities have repealed qualified immunity.

    Defund the police … and arm the populace. Pass laws for stand your ground and castle doctrine. Allow citizens to use deadly force to defend their property. There would be a spasm of violence, then things would settle down nicely.

    • Pass laws for stand your ground and castle doctrine. Allow citizens to use deadly force to defend their property.

      Already got all that in FL…

  15. Chris, if the liberals can’t take back what they said then neither can many in the comments section here. When I began visiting this site I was dumbfounded by the amount of anti LE vitriol I found here. That all went away with the BLM/Defund LE movement. I guess the POTG figured it out a little quicker than the liberals.

  16. Defund the police absolutely. Let We the People do the law regulating.
    If so and so rapes SuzyQ then the whole neighborhood tracks down Rapeman and stones fly until mush city.
    As long as criminals know good citizens will be punished by laws criminals like law enforcement.
    We’ve become to dependent on and to restricted by our Blue Saviors.

  17. Defunding the police is only a part of the problem. Some of the problem is also in what the police are ordered/allowed to do and who they are allowed to investigate/arrest. The next issue is in the DA/AG offices. Not much point in making an arrest if the suspect/perpetrator is back on the street before the arresting officer can even write/file the report. Or is just given a ticket/court date which will be promptly ignored.
    The rest of the problem has nothing to do with LE or the courts. When you have a culture of lawlessness and no moral authority in the populace of the city you end up with ever more lawless behavior. Unless and until the people living in the cities decide such behaviors will no longer be tolerated or allowed, no amount of police will matter. Sure, putting a few more cops on the streets may have a temporary positive effect. But, unless and until there is a social/societal change it will be only a temporary improvement. Unfortunately, this must come from the residents and local neighborhood leaders.

  18. We do need civil police.

    What we do not need are jackbooted enforcers whose main role is revenue collecting.

    There is a difference and until police departments figure it out nothing will change.

  19. It is interesting that the Democrat left thinks Jan6 was an insurrection. A day that absolutely horrifies them. Yet these same people want DC police to be defunded.

  20. “About Face: DC City Council Decides Defunding the Police Was the Everyone Knew It Would Be”

    Was what? Proofread, TTAG!

  23. Socialist-democrats trying to un-f their brilliant decisions…how much human misery did this cost their constituents?

  24. “About Face: DC City Council Decides Defunding the Police Was the Everyone Knew It Would Be”

    Things will really become entertaining if a member of House or Senate is severely injured, or killed on the streets of D.C.

  25. “ About Face: DC City Council Decides Defunding the Police Was the Everyone Knew It Would Be”

    Editor had the day off?

  26. Too late, anyone who wants to be a police officer won’t work for them. They know with just a little pressure, the city council will turn on them.

  27. Isn’t this the same group of geniuses that voted to allow eeleegul immies to vote in muni elections? So forward thinking their heads did a 360 right up their buttholes!

  28. ‘D.C. Police Union chairman Gregg Pemberton said the council’s “flip-flop” reflects an effort to avoid blame “regarding exponential increases in violent crime.”’
    Their flip flop is an admission of guilt already.

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