Many of the 12 cities that experienced record levels of violence in 2021 moved over the past two years to cut police funding, overhaul law enforcement policies, or put fewer people behind bars.
The sweeping changes that city leaders across America pursued came at a time of intense scrutiny of law enforcement after a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest attempt in May 2020.
URBAN LIBERALS RETHINK GUNS AND POLICING AMID CRIME SPIKE ON THEIR DOORSTEP
But even some Democratic lawmakers have begun to rethink the reforms championed by activists as the number of homicides nationwide has climbed. The Biden White House, for example, has repeatedly attempted to distance its policies from the “defund the police” movement that some Democrats have come to view as harmful to their electoral prospects.
Here are some of the liberal reforms that the 12 record-breaking cities implemented before they recorded their highest-ever number of murders. In some that did not specifically pursue left-wing policies, the national conversation around race and policing worsened structural problems, such as officer shortages, that experts say contributed to the rise in violence.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia broke its previous homicide record this year after surpassing the number of slayings the city recorded in 1990.
The wave of violence came after the city’s liberal district attorney, Larry Krasner, implemented liberal prosecutorial reforms that led to fewer criminals going to prison and for shorter periods of time. Krasner scrapped cash bail for many low-level offenses and boasts on his website that over the summer, the county jail population dropped to its lowest level since 1985.
Amid the civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, Philadelphia city leaders followed a number of other metropolitan areas in diverting funding away from law enforcement and toward other priorities.
City Council officials pushed last summer to cancel $33 million in proposed funding for the Philadelphia Police Department.
Columbus
Columbus is one of two Ohio cities that broke records for homicides in 2021, notching 179 murders at the start of December.
It was the highest since just the previous year, when the city marked another record amid the civil unrest.
The slayings this year came as Columbus Police Department officials reported an exodus of officers that strained its law enforcement capabilities.
Officials pointed to tensions between the force and the community that worsened in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, prompting some officers to seek jobs elsewhere.
In July 2020, following the backlash against police, city leaders and the police department agreed to a policy that would limit the ability of police to arrest suspects for nonviolent offenses — even if the suspect had an outstanding arrest warrant.
Democratic Mayor Andrew Ginther in April asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether the city’s police department was home to racial bias, and the Biden administration’s DOJ agreed to launch the inquiry in September.
A state panel banned the use of chokeholds in December of last year for all Ohio police departments in an effort to overhaul use-of-force requirements.
Indianapolis
Indianapolis experienced more homicides this year than in 2020, which had been its deadliest year to date.
By late November, the Midwestern city had passed the number of murders recorded last year during the racially motivated unrest that gripped much of the country.
Unlike many other major cities, Indianapolis did not move to slash its police budget in the wake of the protests, however.
Instead, the police department responded to the pressure by updating its use-of-force guidelines, placing new limits on when officers can use deadly force, banning chokeholds, and requiring officers to report any inappropriate behavior they witness among colleagues.
But although the police department did not technically face budget cuts, city leaders also didn’t propose significant increases to address the record number of homicides last year.
Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett proposed a 2021 police budget last year that kept police spending as the same proportion of the city’s budget, roughly one-fifth, as the year before despite the rise in violence.
The City Council voted in September to invest millions of dollars from COVID-19 relief funds into law enforcement, including toward hiring 100 new police officers to help the strained force.
City leaders have also moved to pour $45 million into community-based programs that aim to reduce crime outside of law enforcement methods, although some critics have noted that many of the programs existed before the spike in murders and have failed to stop the violence.
Louisville
Leaders in Louisville, Kentucky, never cut police funding in response to demands from activists that they do so.
The city increased police funding slightly in 2020 and even more dramatically in 2021.
Some experts blamed COVID-19 lockdowns for exacerbating crime problems in the city, noting some of the young victims and perpetrators might have been in school or other programs that were shuttered temporarily by the pandemic
Like many other metro police forces, the Louisville Police Department has experienced an officer shortage that has forced it to cut some services. By July, the police department was short 241 officers.
Louisville police said in July that they would no longer be able to offer security at most special events, for example.
Portland
Portland, Oregon, this year broke a homicide record that had stood since 1987, underscoring the violence that has seized the city since the particularly destructive protests there last year.
City leaders were more responsive to activists’ demands for liberal reforms after the protests, slashing $15 million from the police budget last year.
Portland voters in the 2020 election approved a ballot measure that overhauled the oversight system for police, granting a civilian panel sweeping new powers to demand documents and testimony from officers accused of misconduct in the line of duty.
The new measure came amid an officer shortage that has forced police to get creative with law enforcement tactics that account for having dozens fewer officers than needed.
The city put up traffic barrels designed to stop drive-by shootings in some high-crime areas, for example, and suspended traffic stops for minor violations so officers can focus on more serious crimes.
As the violence has worsened, Portland’s liberal mayor, Ted Wheeler, has called to add money back to the police force to address recruiting difficulties as police continue to leave the force in higher numbers.
Albuquerque
New Mexico’s largest city set a homicide record this year with its highest number of murders since 2019.
Calls for reform in 2020 led Democratic city officials to create a new public safety department that would take over responsibility for responding to 911 calls related to addiction and homelessness, among other minor offenses. Under the new policy, police would no longer be dispatched to such calls.
Albuquerque police reform began before Floyd’s death, however.
The city’s police department was the subject of a DOJ pattern-or-practice investigation in 2014 that found officers routinely violated citizens’ rights. That finding triggered a raft of reforms and reporting requirements aimed at curbing the misconduct.
Austin
The City Council in Austin, Texas, voted in 2020 to cut the police budget by more than $150 million, attributing the shift to the demands for social change.
The city “reallocated” the millions to programs focused on community problems, such as housing and jobs training, and transferred a number of duties away from the Austin Police Department to other, non-law enforcement agencies, according to the city government.
Austin broke a homicide record in 2021 that had endured since 1984, and city leaders have responded by pushing for more police funding.
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police responded to the national outcry about policing practices last summer by highlighting reforms to its use of force policies, which officials said had been in the works before the protests in 2020.
The city did not cut its police budget nor pursue some of the liberal changes that other cities with record homicides did but still suffered from a police officer shortage that has hampered law enforcement abilities.
The Baton Rouge Police Department this year began taking employees off desk jobs and putting them on patrol in an effort to address the rise in crime.
Rochester
Rochester, New York, saw its highest number of murders since 1991 after city officials worked to slash the department and make it easier for officers to be fired for actions taken on the job.
In March, the City Council approved a police reform plan that mandated cuts to the police budget over several years and an end to the department’s contract with the police union, among other reforms.
In 2020, the City Council voted overwhelmingly to cut millions from the police department but to put full funding behind a Police Accountability Board, which was supposed to oversee policing tactics.
Toledo
Toledo, Ohio, officials moved to explore reforms in 2020 by creating a committee to study potential changes that would restore trust between police officers and the community.
City officials cut their 2022 police budget this year. However, they planned to make up the difference with COVID-19 stimulus money allotted to the city.
Toledo officials have blamed the rise in violence over the past two years on the pandemic and the shifting national sentiment toward law enforcement.
St. Paul
Despite a record-breaking year for homicides in St. Paul, Minnesota, city leaders said this year that they did not see a need to grow the size of their police force.
St. Paul’s police chief pleaded with city leaders in the fall to add more money to the 2022 police budget for hiring more officers, arguing the current police force, which is experiencing a shortage, cannot keep up with the rise in violence.
The city’s Democratic mayor pushed last year to cut St. Paul’s police budget significantly in response to the protests.
The City Council ultimately passed a budget that did cut police funding, gaining savings through attrition.
St. Paul’s police force is now short dozens of officers.
Tucson
Tucson, Arizona, officials resisted calls to defund the police last year amid the protests that followed Floyd’s death.
However, Tucson police have experienced a dramatic staffing shortage that has led to serious cuts in service, including a policy that stopped sending officers to certain 911 calls in an effort to allocate the remaining officers more efficiently.
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Tucson city officials this year approved pay raises for officers in an effort to recruit more amid hiring difficulties.
