How is that “Defunding the Police” Working Out? Part 2

This article was provided exclusively to the New York Analysis of Policy and Government by the distinguished retired judge, John H. Wilson

Is there any relation between Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s views and the increase in violent crime? According to the Chicago Sun Times, “as the number of murders in Chicago soared in June, there was a huge slowdown of police activity that the police union blames on rock-bottom morale and distrust of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.”

Portland, Oregon is in a category all its own. As of this writing, riots disguised as protests have gone on for 60 straight days. In particular, these rioters have focused on the federal courthouse, prompting federal agents to protect federal property. The reaction of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler? “(This) appears to be a blatant abuse of police authority by the Trump administration. As best as I can tell, this is an effort – a last-gasp effort by a failed president with sagging polling data who’s trying to look strong for his base, and so he is actually using the federal police function in support of his candidacy.”

Mayor Wheeler has made no secret of his intention to defund the Portland Police. According to The Oregonian, he has “pledged the city will divert $12 million from the police bureau and other city departments to directly support communities of color, defund three police units including the gun violence reduction team and ban officers from using chokeholds as part of plans to reform the Portland Police Bureau.”

This leads us to Mayor Bill DeBlasio of New York City, another proponent of defunding his city’s police department. “According to the NYPD, 178 homicides were reported in New York City so far this year. The statistics include information through June 30. This is a 21 percent increase from the number (of) homicides reported during the same time last year when the city saw 147 homicides…The city has seen 528 shooting incidents and 636 shooting victims this year through June 30. This translates to a 46 percent increase in incidents and a 53 percent increase in shooting victims compared to the same time last year when the city reported 362 incidents and 415 victims.”

Yet, how does Mayor DeBlasio spend his time while murder and shootings are on the rise? When not quoting Karl Marx, and Che Guevara, the Mayor is painting the words “Black Lives Matter” in front of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

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Of all the actions of the various Mayors discussed here, Mayor DeBlasio is the only one who might have violated Ethical Rules by his actions. Under Chapter 68 of the New York City Charter, Section 2604(b)(2) and (3), “No public servant shall engage in any business, transaction or private employment, or have any financial or other private interest, direct or indirect, which is in conflict with the proper discharge of his or her official duties,” and “No public servant shall use or attempt to use his or her position as a public servant to obtain any financial gain, contract, license, privilege or other private or personal advantage, direct or indirect, for the public servant or any person or firm associated with the public servant.”

Does painting the words “Black Lives Matter” on a public street constitute an attempt to “use his position as a public servant to obtain any…other private or personal advantage” and constitute an act “in conflict with the proper discharge of his…official duties?” That would be up to the NYC Conflict of Interest Board to decide. But the placement of this particular “mural” just outside the residence of the current President, when DeBlasio is a former candidate for the Presidency himself underscores the political advantage New York City’s Mayor may expect from supporters of Black Lives Matter.

And need it be mentioned that Mayor Lightfoot, Mayor Wheeler and Mayor DeBlasio are all members of the Democratic Party?

All the blame for New York City’s problems cannot be laid at the feet of Mayor DeBlasio alone. Doing his part to support the new agenda, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a contender for Mayor of New York in the next election, “urged people to solve non-violent disputes among themselves without involving police officers to avoid the risk of a police confrontation escalating.” The result? “A Brooklyn woman was killed after attempting to reason with several people illegally setting off fireworks in the neighborhood of East New York.”

So how is that “Defunding the Police” thing going for these cities? Apparently, no so good.

Photo: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot (Office of the Mayor)

Quick Analysis

Putin’s Saber Rattling

Earlier this week, President Biden reversed his 2022 decision, authorizing the provision of antipersonnel land mines to the Ukrainian government. It follows an earlier Administration authorization to allow the use of an advanced American missile system capable of striking as deep as 100 miles inside Russian territory. The US election season may be ending, but both Russia and the West show no indication of stepping down the conflict. Russian propaganda continues to swell as the Kremlin increases its threats to use nuclear weapons against the West. Last week Andrey Sushentsov, program director of the pro-Kremlin think tank Valdai Discussion Club (VDC), published an article on growing nuclear tensions in the region. Official Russian language in the last few years has been threatening. Since the US election, rhetoric like that in the Sushentsov article, has approached the level of nuclear blackmail. The VDC article’s main theme centers on Russia’s intent to directly confront the West militarily if the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) becomes involved in Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. “On the one hand, these threats are intended to frighten the West, but on the other, Russian propagandists themselves are starting to believe in the inevitability of escalation,” according to Ksenia Kirillova of the Jamestown Foundation. On November 11, Sushentsov wrote that “The conflict will reach a completely new level, with unpredictable consequences for Europe and the entire world.” Kirillova points out that Putin’s distorted image of the world is divorced from reality and is causing the Kremlin to issue demands that are impossible to fulfill. Financial and other Russian resources needed to support Putin’s war are growing scarcer at the same time. This week the Kremlin announced a reduction of payments to its soldiers. Recently North Korea acknowledged it was sending soldiers to fight in Ukraine as Putin is running out of bodies to use as cannon fire. The war is not going well for Russia. One question floating around the Washington intelligence community is whether Putin will act out of desperation before President-elect Trump assumes office. In recent months the Russian propaganda machine is spewing out materials from fairly reputable analytical platforms inside the country. Kirillova says that “Kremlin ‘experts’ do not conceal that such threats are only intended to break the West psychologically, as they themselves are not prepared for full-scale nuclear war.” Despite Russia’s lack of preparation for an all-out war with the West, the expanding nuclear rhetoric carries with it an increase in the threat of a full-scale war in multiple theaters of operation. In June 2023 a founder of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Sergey Karaganov, called for “delivering a pre-emptive strike of retaliation” on Poland to force the West to surrender. In the previous month, Dmitry Suslov, a direct of research programs at the policy center proposed organizing “a demonstration nuclear explosion” aimed at intimidating the West. In September, President Putin announced a reappraisal of Russian nuclear doctrine after speaking earlier in the year at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and jokingly calling Suslov a “scary person.” Pavel Baev, writing in the European Daily Monitor, says “Putin intends his announcement to mark an escalation of nuclear brinkmanship and influence the proceedings of future Ukrainian peace efforts.” Putin is expanding the list of environmental conditions that are acceptable for using a nuclear weapon and incorporating it into Russian military doctrine. Baev adds that “The ups and downs of Russian brinkmanship are disconnected from the kinetic battles of the war, correlating instead with Ukrainian peace offensives, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first peace summit in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.” Despite the increase in vitriolic language, in a You Tube video published a week before the US presidential election, Karaganov openly assured the West the primary goal of the escalation is to break the American spirit and that of the West, not outright nuclear war. By Election Day in the US, with political prognosticators predicting a win for former president Trump, Karaganov changed his tune and called for an increased role in nuclear deterrence. Kirillova points out that Western concessions to Russia are unlikely to reduce the risk of nuclear escalation. The distorted reality inside the Kremlin continues to push that President-elect Trump is an adherent of “world government,” that Ukraine will create a nuclear weapon, and Russia must prepare for a nuclear conflagration to achieve its ambitions for a new world order. President-elect Trump has indicated he will not agree to concessions that destabilize Europe, the Middle East or other regions. Going forward a strong US foreign policy may be the most stabilizing course the West can count on to restrain Putin and his intent to rebuild the Russian empire. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay

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