Newsom to Cut Funding For Law Enforcement

California Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing to cut roughly $187 million from law enforcement to reduce the state’s multi-billion dollar deficit. Hannah Grossman at Fox News reports that the cuts would include reduced funding to the state’s overburdened trial courts, eliminating 4,500 state prison beds, and reducing the number of state criminal prosecutors and county probation officers. The proposal follows a recent statement from the Governor’s office that there would be “no cuts to law enforcement.”

These cuts and many others are being proposed to reduce a deficit the Governor claims is $27.6 billion, but according to the Associated Press it is actually closer to $45 billion when roughly $17 billion in already authorized new spending is accounted for. It is worth noting that three years ago California was sitting on a $100 billion surplus.

While some violent crimes are down slightly so far this year, there is so much property crime, including tens of thousands of unreported thefts, that state data, with the exception of motor vehicle theft, is no longer a reliable benchmark. California has the highest number of motor vehicle thefts in the nation with over 202,000 vehicles stolen last year. This is nearly twice as many as the second highest state (Texas) and over seven times more than New York. In San Francisco alone 2,298 vehicles have been stolen so far this year.

After acknowledging that there actually will be law enforcement cuts the Governor’s office boasted,  “Since Governor Newsom took office in 2019, the state has made record investments in law enforcement, including $1.1 billion to tackle crime, support police, and hold criminals accountable.”  This is a remarkable statement considering that the laws Newsom has signed and the policies he supports have reduced the consequences for every category of crime from shoplifting to murder, often allowing repeat offenders to go free with no punishment at all.  “Tackle crime?” There are so many thieves roaming the streets in Los Angeles County that some have resorted to stealing fire hydrants. Over the past year 302 hydrants have been stolen in LA. Who steals fire hydrants? What happens when some of the county’s 75,000 homeless start a fire?

Since Newsom has assumed office, thousands of businesses have either closed or moved away and tens of thousands of residents have left for other states primarily due to the intolerable level of crime and the extremely high cost of living or doing business in the Golden State.

Denial is not a river in Egypt, it is the mindset of Governor Newsom and his enablers in the state legislature. And it’s destroying California.