Atlanta suburb battling surging crime aims to secede
Buckhead City Committee CEO Bill White joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss how rampant crime has crippled Buckhead's streets and Stacey Abrams' push to defund the police despite the violent trends.
An Atlanta suburb is aiming to secede from the Peach State's capital as violent crime plagues the city's streets.
Buckhead City Committee CEO Bill White joined "Fox & Friends First" to discuss how crime has dismantled city streets and the impact of the ‘defund the police’ movement on public safety.
"We are really feeling like this is a war zone, and I don't say that lightly, especially given what you experienced in a war zone," White told co-host Joey Jones. "This is murder and mayhem… We are dealing with a mayor who voted to defund the police.
"It's obvious that police officers do not want to come work for a mayor or a city that does not back them, so Buckhead wants to take things into its own hands," he continued.
Atlanta police officers responded around 11:35 p.m. Sunday to the Buckhead Target on Peachtree Road. (Fox 5 DC/ WAGA)
According to Fox News tracking, rape is up 80% as of June 18, burglaries are up 26%, and robberies are up 8%.
The wealthy Atlanta enclave has been fighting to become independent of the state's capital as rampant crime has plagued the neighborhood, but has been unsuccessful so far in getting the measure on an election ballot.
"We're short 180 police officers, so what are we supposed to do?" White said. "They said this has never been done taking a part of a city out and making its own city from that, but we're going to do it, and we're going to absolutely love our police."
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"We're going to pay them, we're going to give them a take-home car, we're going to welcome them," he continued. "We're going to honor them every day and make up for this dumbest move of the century, this ‘defund the police,’ and turn that on its heels and put the smack down on the crime here in Buckhead once and for all, and have a happy place to live."
White reiterated his support for Gov. Brian Kemp, as he faces off against Democrat Stacey Abrams for the governorship in November.
"Thanks to Gov. Kemp, he's come in to help save Buckhead, but he's not the mayor of Atlanta, so that's a temporary fix for what we're endorsing," White said. "But if Stacey Abrams was the governor, this wouldn't be happening, so that's why we're voting for Brian Kemp for governor."