President Joe Biden’s policies have not contributed to a decrease in violent crime, multiple sources told the Daily Caller, despite the Biden-Harris administration seizing on a recent report that seemed to show major cities were safer in 2024.
One liberal-run city is a “dystopian hell,” remarked a police union representative to the Caller. Additionally, changes in reporting protocols create the “illusion” of safety, according to one law enforcement officer.
A report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association captured data on violent crime from 69 cities. New York City was not included because it did not submit violent crime numbers for the first half of this year. An Axios analysis of the data found a 6% overall decrease in violent crime in the first half of 2024 compared to the first six months of 2023. The data appeared to show steep drops in violent crime, including a 41% drop in Columbus, Ohio – the largest decline in the country.
Officers in the city, however, face a starkly different reality.
Lies, Damned Lies, And Crime Statistics
“Our officers and the citizens they serve are still battling violent crime daily,” Brian Steel, President of the Ninth Capital City Lodge Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) in Ohio, told the Caller. “Recent changes in crime reporting have done little more than create the illusion that all is well.”
The War on Cops continues to rage…
3 Columbus (OH) police officers were stabbed last night taking a violent dirtbag off the streets.
Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, thankfully all are expected to recover.
Shootings of officers up 60%…assaults on officers at a…
— Joe Gamaldi (@JoeGamaldi) August 2, 2024
Steel provided the Caller with the Columbus Police Department’s Homicide Reporting protocol. Police Chief Elaine Bryant took office in 2021, and the protocol was subsequently updated in 2022. (RELATED: Don’t Believe What The Liberal Regime Media’s Pushing On Crime Stats)
The department’s “annual homicide clearance rate” is determined based on FBI standards, according to the protocol.
The clearance rate is derived from “the total number of new homicides in a calendar year” and “the total number of homicides that are cleared that calendar year, regardless of the year the homicide occurred,” the document reads.
Steel explained how this transition impacts homicide statistics.
If a detective solved a cold case in 2024, but the homicide was committed in 2020, then that case goes toward the clearance rate for 2024. The policy increases the clearance rate and “makes itself better,” Steel added, but it didn’t used to be that way.
The FBI switched from its century-old method of collecting crime data to the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in 2021. The left-leaning Marshall Project reported that almost 40% of law enforcement agencies did not submit data in 2021 to NIBRS, including New York City and Los Angeles.
Nebraska’s FOP President Anthony Conner told the Caller about his experience with changes in how crime is reported, although he argued homicide numbers are the best metric “because you can’t hide a dead body.”
He explained how when he first started on the police force over 20 years ago, if there was a shooting at a house, every person inside was documented as a felony assault victim.
“Well, they decided to change that,” Conner told the Caller. He stated that now, if police cannot identify the intended target, the charge is downgraded from a felony assault to a misdemeanor property crime.
Paul Ware, a 30-year law enforcement veteran and retired Portland, Oregon, police officer of 21 years, told the Caller some cities are not reporting all their crimes. (RELATED: Nation’s Capital Devastated By Astronomical Crime Spike In 2023)
“They’re reporting the lesser crimes,” Ware told the Caller. “And so decreasing crime is, quite frankly, not real, because all they’re doing is reclassifying the crimes that they have on the streets into something other than exactly what it was.”
There is an incentive for cities to report lower levels of crime, California FOP President Roger Hilton explained to the Caller. He pointed to a July investigation published by the San Francisco Chronicle that revealed Oakland “overstated” its drop in crime.
Hilton stated California adopted measures that enable crime, specifically Proposition 47.
“Cops have limited tools to arrest people, and if they do arrest them, they’re out faster, before we can even finish writing the report,” Hilton told the Caller.
Tim Walz was Governor of Minnesota when the George Floyd riots happened
He allowed BLM to destroy black communities for months
Dozens died nationwide & billions of dollars were lost in property damage
Now Tim Walz might be Kamala’s VP
America rejects violent, Leftist anarchy… https://t.co/7nNa1i1meV pic.twitter.com/yTIMh42q9G
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 6, 2024
Voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014, and it demoted the classification of most nonviolent drug and property felonies to misdemeanors, according to Ballotpedia. This includes theft and fraud amounting up to $950.
Hilton also noted how charges can be downgraded during the sentencing process.
“As it goes through the criminal justice system, sometimes a lot of charges get dropped along the way,” he said, noting how the FBI gets its information from other law enforcement agencies.
“It’s hard for me to say how all of those things are all reported, and I doubt that they’re very consistent,” Hilton told the Caller.
Where Violent Crime Has Decreased, It’s Not Because Of The Biden Administration
The Axios analysis of the MCCA report showed Omaha, Nebraska, experienced a 30% decrease in violent crime.
Conner told the Caller violent crime decreased in Omaha because the police department cracked down on gang violence.
“Omaha has a Republican mayor who has been very supportive of law enforcement,” Conner said. Omaha’s Police Chief was instrumental in restructuring the department to effectively tackle gang violence, he noted.
The County District Attorney actually prosecutes homicides, unlike a lot of DAs around the country who are letting criminals free, according to Conner. (RELATED: Red State Sends Clear Message To Criminals: Mess With Us And You’ll Go To Jail)
Conner said due to officer shortages, however, Omaha’s violent crime could start trending the other way. “We are down 126 officers, maybe even more than that now,” he told the Caller, noting the department is roughly 14% short of officers.
The Biden-Harris administration capitalized on the report and said violent crime hit a “record” 50-year low in the first part of 2024 in an August press release. The White House claimed its gun control polices and “American Rescue Plan” contributed to the decrease in violent crime.
Executive Director for Right On Crime and former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman disagreed, stressing crime is primarily a local issue.
“The policies that he’s talking about, like the background check, expanded background checks and all those things, has had virtually zero to do with any of the rise or the fall in the dropping crime,” Tolman told the Caller. “And I’ve yet to hear them articulate a policy they implemented that would.”
He explained the main deterrent is predictability, or when individuals believe they are going to be caught and punished for violating the law.
“You can lengthen sentence. You can shorten the sentence. You can do things that have no impact on deterring crime, but the predictability is the only factor,” he said.
The Manhattan Institute’s Heather Mac Donald told the Caller funding is essentially meaningless if people do not want to join the police force.
“There’re still departments that are completely unable to recruit and hold on to the officers that they’ve got,” she said. “Frankly, crime and policing are very local matters. There’s not a heck of a lot the federal government can do in terms of crime tactics and strategies.”
She emphasized the Biden admin should change its rhetoric if it actually wanted to help law enforcement.
“The one thing it should avoid doing is demoralizing the cops by calling them racist.”
The End Result Of Progressive Policies: ‘A Dystopian Hell’
One of the cities that reportedly experienced a drop in crime was Oakland, California – but locals tell a different story.
“If you walk around Oakland now, it is like a dystopian hell,” Sam Singer, who represents the Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA), told the Caller. “And you know, small business are suffering.”
The OPOA sent a letter to the office of Mayor Sheng Tao calling for her to resign by Aug. 8, NBC Bay Area reported. They blamed Tao and the City Council majority for slashing the police force from 712 to 678 officers.
BREAKING: Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao just doubled down and said violent crime has decreased “significantly” while blatantly ignoring 9 murders and 30 elderly women robbed and brutally beaten in Oakland, California last week. pic.twitter.com/yDxjhJ8Zgz
— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) July 8, 2024
He said the OPOA is doubtful about the reported decrease in crime.
“Anyone who lives or works in Oakland, in the neighborhoods, small businesses, even major businesses, sees violent crime is out of control in the city, and the police force is essentially at half the strength it ought to be.”
Singer claimed “progressive leftists” in the city’s government defunded the police at a time when more police officers were needed.
Across the country, Americans are feeling the effects of rampant crime in major cities. In downtown Seattle, for example, a massive development project was stalled due in part to “open-air drug markets,” among other illegal activities.
With the summer months right around the corner, I just did a quick drive by of 3rd Ave & Pike St in downtown Seattle. Black market of stolen goods and the fentanyl drug den continues to thrive. It’s worse than ever. I gotta get back to focusing on this beat. Too many stories. pic.twitter.com/R3SmDPJQLT
— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) June 9, 2024
The migrant crisis is also influencing crime, even in states not on the southern border. Omaha’s Anthony Conner noted how the cartels have made their way up to Omaha, even though Nebraska is not a border state. (RELATED: REPORT: Migrants Make Up Roughly 75% Of Arrests In Midtown Manhattan, According To Estimate)
Another factor driving up rates is juvenile crime, according to Conner. He pointed to the left-wing Sherwood Foundation (chaired by Warren Buffet’s daughter Susie Buffett), which he claimed ran commercials praising juvenile justice reform.
In light of the tragic murder of 64-year-old Mursal Jama and out of respect for his family, including his six young children, we demand Douglas County Nebraska and The Sherwood Foundation remove the TV ads claiming that the county is “leading” on juvenile justice reform. pic.twitter.com/Wnbb2CCWa6
— Omaha Police Officers Association (@omahaPOA) August 14, 2024
“Omaha would probably have half the homicides if it wasn’t for juveniles,” Conner said. “Our numbers would be even better.”
He explained how Nebraska’s juvenile detention law, which faced criticism after an 11-year-old was charged with murder, affects juvenile crime.
“So that means when a 13 year-old kills somebody they’ll be out by the time they’re 19 at the latest, and a lot of times they’re out within a year because they go to what’s called some sort of intensive treatment or whatever else,” Conner stated.
Three 13-year-olds were charged with first-degree murder in 2022, WOWT reported. Nebraska law requires all cases for those 13 and younger to go to juvenile court, according to the outlet. Once the suspects turn 19, they are cleared of any charges.
The Legacy Of The 2020 BLM Riots
Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots exploded in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Two months before Vice President Kamala Harris joined Biden’s 2020 campaign, she defended the “defund the police movement” when it questioned police budgets.
Steel said that after the death of George Floyd, “Police officers were vilified” and “blamed for all society’s problems.” (RELATED: Tim Walz’s Wife Said She Wanted To Smell Fires Of 2020 BLM Riots Because It Was A ‘Touchstone’ Moment)
In 2020, Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine released over 100 “non-violent inmates” from prison because of Covid-19, reported the Dayton Daily News. County sheriffs released hundreds more from local jails.
“We literally let people out of prison, and they got dropped off at city center,” Steel told the Caller. “And now these individuals, majority of them, have no job, nowhere to stay.”
Paul Ware told the Caller rioters “firebombed” the Portland Police Union’s headquarters in 2020. “It got attacked by mobs on several occasions, and so the Portland Police Association no longer has a physical office anywhere in the city limits of Portland.”
Mac Donald also said the riots contributed to the spike in violent crime.
She pointed to a 2023 study by the JAMA Network that analyzed firearm assault injuries and deaths of juveniles during the pandemic from four populous cities: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
“The pandemic was irrelevant to this,” Mac Donald told the Caller. “It was the George Floyd race riots. They showed that black juveniles were 100 times more likely to be shot than white juveniles. And you know that’s just an amazing, amazing disparity.”
Tim Walz was Governor of Minnesota when the George Floyd riots happened
He allowed BLM to destroy black communities for months
Dozens died nationwide & billions of dollars were lost in property damage
Now Tim Walz might be Kamala’s VP
America rejects violent, Leftist anarchy… https://t.co/7nNa1i1meV pic.twitter.com/yTIMh42q9G
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 6, 2024
Mac Donald pushed back on Biden’s claim that violent crime is at record lows. “I don’t know where they come up with that,” she told the Caller, pointing to 2019 crime rates. “We’re above 2019, so that’s the problem.”
Data from the Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey shows crime has not fallen to pre-2019 levels, although the most recent report is from 2022.
“We must remain vigilant and honest about the challenges we continue to face,” Steel said, “rather than being swayed by statistics that may not fully reflect the situation.”