Fmr. police chief: This is the Democrats' new way of defunding the police
Former head of the Detroit Police Department James Craig discusses vaccine mandates against police on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight'
Former police chief, James Craig, slammed the Democrats for pushing vaccine mandates on police and said that this was Democrats' their new way of continuing the "defund the police" movement on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday.
"This is just utterly ridiculous," the former chief of Cincinnati and Detroit's police said about vaccine mandates. "Tucker … I got to tell you, but this is all by design. It's not by accident."
Seattle, for example, lost a chunk of its police force over the vaccine mandate. "If someone calls 911, there will not be significant impacts on response," the city's mayor, Jenny Durkan, said.
Craig said the move "in effect" amounted to defunding the police. "This is, in effect, defunding the police. It's reckless, and she does not speak for people who live in vulnerable communities."
He went on to criticize Durkan for what he believed was poor decision-making.
"And oh, let's talk about Seattle. The summer of love – that mayor. She wanted to defund the police – they're getting their wish. And they don't have any concept of how to reduce violence in this city. It's reckless, it's irresponsible. And folks who are on the left who are complicit, who say nothing. They're as involved. I'm just going to say it is wrong."
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"I mean, really, what's racist is the people who live in vulnerable communities who are impacted by these bad decisions, by these reckless mayors who need to step down and resign."
The "defund the police" movement gained momentum following the death of George Floyd. Democratic cities began to crack down on law enforcement, and some went as far as passing laws to slash police budgets.
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The movement proved to be unpopular, according to polling data. A USA Today/Ipsos poll found that 18% of respondents supported the "defund" movement against police officers.
At the same time the movement had gained momentum, major Democratic cities saw crime surges.
"If you take all the police away and the murder rate spikes, maybe you stop taking police away," host Tucker Carlson said.