Portland, Oregon is experiencing its highest number of homicides in nearly a quarter of a century.
As of December, there have been more than 850 shootings in 2020. At least 250 people have been shot, which contributed to 50 homicides.
According to One America News Network, The Portland Police Bureau is begging the public to take community action as a way to stop the violence.
In an interview with OANN, Lieutenant Greg Pashley of the Portland Police Department expressed his concern, “The number of bullets that must have been flying around our neighborhoods, city streets, sidewalks — it’s awful.”
Subsequent to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, violent riots and protests ravaged the nation.
Although Floyd died nearly 1,700 miles from Portland, the City of Roses experienced increased lawlessness and violent protests. Anti-police rhetoric increased dramatically, and the Black Lives Matter movement in conjunction with Antifa anarchists demanded that Portland defund its police force.
Portland city officials and Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, bowed to the demands of Antifa and BLM and reduced the Portland Police Bureau’s budged by roughly $15 million.
The massive budget cut completely disbanded the Portland Police Bureau’s Gun Violence Reduction Team — which city leadership has accused, without evidence, of disproportionately stopping people of color.
“We propose to direct over $7 million from the police bureau and $5 million from other city funds directly to communities of color, reinvesting $12 million,” Wheeler said back in June. “We are going to dissolve the Gun Violence Reduction Team.”
In a series of tweets on June 6, Wheeler asserted that he “stands in solidarity” with demonstrators who are “sending a strong message that we are long overdue for meaningful reform and restorative justice.”
Within a month, crime began to proliferate.
In July, alone, shootings nearly tripled from the previous year. There were 99 shootings, up from 35 in July of 2019, according to KGW8.
As of now, Police Chief Lovell has been forced to assign additional detectives in order to investigate shootings.
In the latter portion of July, the White House condemned Wheeler for his lack of control during the riots and his poor management of the city’s law enforcement resources.
“For 55 days in Portland, Oregon, we’ve seen lawlessness, anarchy, and destruction that threatens peace in our streets and the safety of our fellow American citizens,” the Official US Government Account for the White House tweeted.
Violent crime has also been increasing elsewhere in the country. Typically, cities with Democrat leadership have been home to the greatest spikes in violent crime.
In November, the New York City Police Department announced that shootings and “street crime” were both up significantly from the previous year. New York City experienced a 113 percent increase (115 to 51) in shootings citywide.
The increase in crime, particularly violent crime, is believed to be the result of the “Ferguson Effect.” The phrase was first used by St. Louis Police Chief Doyle Sam Dotson III; however, it has been popularized by author and Manhattan Institute fellow, Heather Mac Donald.
The Ferguson effect is the direct result of the media’s inaccurate portrayal of the events in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Initially, the mainstream media propagated a farcical narrative, which purported that: Brown had been unjustly and racially targeted by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, an altercation ensued, and Wilson needlessly shot Brown in the back after Brown had held his hands up in a don’t-shot manner.
This narrative was debunked by both forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony, which ultimately resulted in Wilson not facing any charges for Brown’s death. However, the media’s inexorable attempt at painting Wilson as a racist cop who targeted Brown for no ostensible reason proved successful.
Protests occurred across the nation and anticop rhetoric increased substantially. This, in addition to race-baiting comments by then-President Barack Obama, caused police officers across the nation to be fearful and hesitant of proactive policing.
Instead of emphasizing crime prevention, which the Left views as racist and bigoted, police, now, tend to respond only after the crime has occurred. This has led to an increase in crime in many Democrat-run cities across the nation — Portland being one of the cities hardest hit.
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