So, you ask, how’s all that ‘defund the police’ business working out for our newly ‘woke’ cities? Not so well if you’re a law-abiding citizen trying to stay safe and alive, but great if you’re an anarchist or thug who likes your city as lawless as possible.

According to a new analysis by The Wall Street Journal, “a sharp rise in homicides this year is hitting large U.S. cities across the country, signaling a new public-safety risk unleashed during the coronavirus pandemic, and amid recession and a national backlash against police tactics.”

The analysis found that while murder rates today are still below historic highs, the trend is going in the wrong direction:

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…[R]esearchers, police, and some residents fear the homicide spike, if not tamed, could threaten an urban renaissance spurred in part by more than two decades of declining crime.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of crime statistics among the nation’s 50 largest cities found that reported homicides were up 24% so far this year, to 3,612. Shootings and gun violence also rose, even though many other violent crimes such as robbery fell.

Police, researchers, mayors and community leaders see a confluence of forces at work in the homicide spike. Institutions that keep city communities safe have been destabilized by lockdown and protests against police. Lockdowns and recession also mean tensions are running high and streets have been emptied of eyes and ears on their communities. Some attribute the rise to an increase in gang violence.

Some cities with long-running crime problems saw their numbers rise, including Philadelphia, Detroit and Memphis, Tenn. Chicago, the worst-hit, has tallied more than one of every eight homicides.

Even cities that traditionally are less violent like Omaha, Neb., and Phoenix are seeing homicides spiking.

In all, the analysis found that murders have gone up by double digits in 36 of the 50 biggest cities around the country. 

"I was surprised at the consistency of the increase across all of the different cities,” Jens Ludwig, a University of Chicago professor and director of its Crime Lab, said after examining the Journal's data.

Separately, The Epoch Times noted that in the Antifa/thug capital of Portland, shootings have gone up dramatically (and why not, given that the city has been rocked by daily violence directed either at police, federal agents, or long-standing elk monuments?).

The paper adds: 

Shootings spiked in Portland in July after the disbandment of a team that was focused on reducing gun violence.

The city saw 63 shootings through July 26, compared to 28 in July of 2019, according to data obtained by The Oregonian.

Detectives are investigating 22 deaths, 15 of which occurred in July, police officials said last week.

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What’s completely baffling is the tone-deafness surrounding these increases.

The reason why crime has fallen over the past few decades is because of more aggressive policing – not illegal policing, just more aggressive policing.

When that is taken away, crime spikes. 

This isn’t rocket science, but it may as well be Greek to the nimrods who continue to push for ‘defunding’ and cutting police while failing to fathom why violence and homicides are rising.