St. Paul, Minnesota, is yet another city with a record-breaking year for homicides.
As of December 3rd, the capital city had seen its 35th homicide. The increase in murders is 25% higher than what was recorded in 2019.
Like many other liberal-led cities, St. Paul decided to go after their own police department in the wake of George Floyd’s death. It started with the Mayor, Melvin Carter, proposing not to increase the size of the police department.
Despite crime increasing in the city even before Floyd’s death, the police were understaffed to handle the growing problem.
Most of the city council agreed with Carter that the police department did not need to grow. Although at least one council member, Jane Prince, recognized that the department was too small, telling the Minnesota Post,
I think everybody, no matter where they stand on police, they recognize that we can’t continue to stress our police officers by making them go out in smaller numbers, to be on duty where we have so many more guns on the street.”
The lack of help from the mayor and city council ultimately led to the police chief begging for help.
Chief Todd Axtell told the Star Tribune that they needed millions more in funding to deal with the rise in crime and relieve the stress on officers. Axtell is quoted as saying,
Right now, the women and men who hold this department together are being pushed to the brink. And to put it bluntly, we’re getting by on our officers’ sheer resolve, their relentless commitment to victims and a bit of luck. And I worry that our good fortune will eventually run out.”
With pressure from the radical left to abolish police departments altogether and instead get “social workers” to handle dangerous calls, it’s no wonder criminals are having the time of their lives in “blue” cities.
Will the record murder numbers change the leftists’ minds? It’s doubtful, but one can pray that there is a change of heart before more innocent victims are killed.
