Crime is on the rise, thanks in large part to politicians in major cities calling to defund the police, and there may not be a better example of how emboldened these criminals feel than reports of an attempted armed robbery right in front of a ‘crime prevention’ official.
Guillermo Cespedes is Oakland’s Chief of Violence Prevention. On Monday, while in the middle of an interview at city hall with a local NBC affiliate, two armed suspects approached the camera crew and attempted to take their equipment at gunpoint.
According to the East Bay Times, the would-be robbers had a scuffle with the camera crew, before an armed security officer pointed his weapon at the criminals, and directed them to leave the area. Police said that the suspects fled the scene, and are still outstanding in the area.
“Please be advised that the suspects are still outstanding,” the department said in a statement. “We encourage everyone to be vigilant of their surroundings and report all crimes.”
Crime is “out of control” in Oakland, California as the Democrat-run city defunds nearly $18 million from their police.
After the hearing, two armed robberies held up a news crew interviewing Oakland’s head of violence preventionpic.twitter.com/nKmWTUdQxB
— Tommy Pigott (@TommyPigott) June 29, 2021
What makes the timing even more peculiar is that it happened within hours following a press conference during which Oakland’s Chief of Police LeRonne Armstrong decried his department having $18 million diverted to other programs, all in the name of defunding the police.
“I’m challenged by decisions that were made about the budget,” Chief Armstrong said during the press conference. “Today, we find ourselves in a crisis. We find ourselves reeling from a weekend of violence where we’ve seen four homicides over a three-day period… that’s a 90% increase from last year.”
Armstrong would go on to say that just about every kind of crime, including burglary, is up substantially compared to this time a year ago. Although some may argue the root cause of the spike in crime, there’s no denying that the “defund the police” movement has had a negative impact on our country as a whole, particularly in major cities that were already experiencing high levels of violent crime.
Oakland Police Chief speaks out about the city’s decision to cut his department’s budget: “We are talking about money and cost. I don’t know what the cost of a life is, but I know not having resources makes our city less safe.” pic.twitter.com/XSKaX2w8e2
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 29, 2021
“We see clearly that crime is out of control,” Armstrong would go on to say. “And our response was for less police resources.”
Armstrong took shots at the city’s politicians, who said that the spikes in crime would be “speed bumps” and “challenges” that would go away over time with the policy changes, and loss of funding, in regards to law enforcement.
“For me, those ‘speed bumps’ are 65 lives so far this year. Victims who have suffered at the hands of violence.”
As crime rates continue to rise across the country, it becomes more apparent that the “defund the police” movement has not done anything to make cities safer. Violent criminals are hurting people right in front of the police, and are allowed to get away with it.
Meanwhile, local anti-police activists are patting themselves on the back for a job well done:
WE WON!! WE DID IT!! The Oakland City Council has voted to reallocate $18M from Oakland Police to critical community needs, including Arts & Culture, violence prevention programs and mental health services. Thank you to all the Oakland artists, cultural workers and art lovers! pic.twitter.com/M3CoGl0TUT
— favianna rodriguez (@favianna) June 25, 2021
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