Defunding Police Erodes Our Public Safety

Here in Suffolk County, our local law enforcement officers keep our communities safe, putting their lives on the line each and every day to protect their neighbors and our communities. There is no doubt that they are courageous and patriotic heroes who deserve our support. 

Of course, there is more than enough room for substantive, bipartisan, common sense reforms that can be made to protect all Americans - both our brave police officers and the Long Islanders they serve. Unfortunately, over the last few months, we’ve witnessed this important message hijacked by those who wish to exploit recent events to push a radical agenda of defunding the police. 

Shockingly, some have already begun to bow to the extreme demands to defund, abolish and dismantle our law enforcement officers, and, unfortunately, their citizens are already beginning to pay the price. Buckling under pressure, last month, Mayor Bill DeBlasio and the New York City Council voted to cut the New York City Police Department by $1 billion, a move top police officials said could set the NYPD’s crime control back 30 years. 

Apparently, Mayor DeBlasio believes the NYPD only goes after purse-snatchers and teenagers with fireworks, but in reality, police officers have thwarted terrorist attacks, mass shootings and violent crimes, and saved countless innocent lives.

Already, the NYPD’s plainclothes anti-crime units, which were focused on fighting violent crimes, were dismantled, and in just the last few weeks since their elimination the rates of murders, shootings and other violent crimes have skyrocketed. It’s reported that just last week shooting crimes tripled over this same week just last year. In fact, last weekend, there were 15 shootings in just a 15 hour period. 

With crime soaring and elected officials abandoning support of our men and women in blue, it’s no surprise that the morale of our brave police officers is dwindling. The very same dedicated police officers we want patrolling our streets are now exiting the force. In a single week at the beginning of this month, the NYPD reported that 179 cops filed for retirement, a 411% increase over that same week last year, and the NYPD can barely keep up with the paperwork.

The results of this experiment in lawlessness are in, and they’re not promising. It’s clear, criminals are the ones who have benefited most from this chaos and lawlessness, stripping of police resources, and mass exodus of law enforcement officials, and those who will suffer most are hardworking law-abiding citizens. 

From the autonomous zone in Seattle, which saw multiple shootings and 911 calls related to robberies and assaults from the area triple, to right next door in New York City, it’s clear the movement to defund the police erodes our public safety. For the sake of our brave police officers and the people they serve, we must do everything we can to give them the resources, training and support they need to do their jobs to protect our communities and those who call Long Island home. 

Congressman Lee Zeldin represents New York’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.