Democrats in denial on crime

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

December 22, 2021 12:01 AM By Michael Letts

It was only about a year ago that liberal politicians ran for the nearest microphone to denounce the police. Now, some of those same politicians are running for a microphone again. This time they are attacking members of their party who continue to undermine the police or deny the growing violence in liberal districts around the country.

Those politicians got what they wanted as support and funding for the police shrunk, but the politicians have turned a blind eye to the results of their efforts as murders, burglaries, thefts, and assaults have started climbing.

One example of a liberal politician in denial may be seen in the personage of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat.

California has been plagued lately with many smash-and-grab crimes. This is an organized theft in which coordinated criminals rush into a store, grab what they can, and leave quickly before police arrive.

Ocasio-Cortez said, "A lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are not actually panning out. … For example, I believe it's a Walgreens in California cited it, but the data didn't back it up."

It shouldn't be surprising that Ocasio-Cortez faced backlash in making such an ignorant statement. And I use "ignorant" in the sense that what she said was uninformed and showed her lack of knowledge on the subject.

Walgreens and other retail groups quickly pointed out that retail theft is one of the "top challenges facing" the retail industry. The company also pointed out that security costs in San Francisco Walgreens locations are 46 times the security costs at an average Walgreens.

It should be no shock that Republicans also called her out on her misinformation. However, her comments were so out of touch with reality that even fellow party members had to say something — if only to distance themselves from her comments.

Former New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat, said, "She is a disaster for the average American because of her policies and the things that she advocates and the fact that so many Democrats are fearful of her and the radical Left of the Democratic Party. Crime [is] out of control in New York and Los Angeles, other cities all over America, victims [are] all over America. AOC doesn't care about victims. She cares about the criminal."

Some politicians undoubtedly believed what they were saying, but others just said what they needed to in order to get more votes. Now that problems arise because of those poor positions, they do what they have to do to keep getting votes. That's not unexpected. It's what politicians do.

What is unexpected is that some politicians act worse than ostriches with their heads in the sand. Like Ocasio-Cortez, they are not only turning a blind eye to the situation they helped create — they deny it exists.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said during a press briefing in December, "We don't have a crisis of lawlessness. We don't have a crisis of crime."

This flew in the face of reality so much that Michael Nutter, Philadelphia's former mayor and a Democrat, had to respond. "It takes a certain audacity of ignorance and white privilege to say that right now. But, as of Monday night, 521 people, souls, spirits have been vanquished, eliminated, murdered in our City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, the most since 1960," Nutter wrote in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed.

We are starting to hear from centrist Democrats who are willing to face the fact that there is a growing crime problem. While their solutions may not work, they are at least willing to deal with the problem.

The far-left wing of the Democratic Party, on the other hand, continues to act like a toddler who believes that if she puts her hands over her eyes so she can't see you, you aren't there. As a result, politicians like Krasner have their hands over their eyes and refuse to see the growing crime problem.

Sadly, when they remove their hands, the problem will still be there and will probably be worse unless they join in the effort to fight crime. Denying the problem won't make it go away.

Michael A. Letts is the CEO and founder of In-Vest USA, a national grassroots nonprofit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.