(Washington, D.C., July 6, 2021) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. recently penned an op-ed for the Washington Examiner highlighting the Democrats’ hypocrisy on recent calls to defund the police. Amid rising crime rates across the nation, members of the Biden Administration have tried to deflect blame of yet another crisis they’ve initiated. Senator Marshall said in part,

“Like many of you, I sat with my jaw hanging when the Biden-Harris administration recently accused the GOP of defunding the police. It’s simply not factual… Socialist democrats created this crisis. They defunded the police. They created the anti-police mobs. They turned their back on and, quite frankly, destroyed the integrity of the police. They turned their heads from violence and vandalism and even glorified them at times… As the son of a police chief, I know and respect the vital role law enforcement officers play in our communities, and I know the heroic sacrifices they and their families make. The recent rise in unfair criticisms of law enforcement officers is personal to me. It’s past time radical socialists look in the mirror, begin to understand the importance of law and order, respect their fellow man (including those serving in law enforcement), and realize that their calls to defund the police are dangerous and foolish…”

Democrats’ calls to defund the police are dangerous

Washington Examiner
By: U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D.
July 5, 2021

Last fall, I was visiting my mother and father after a long bus tour across Kansas. My parents still live in the same home I was raised in, and as I was leaving that fall day, a scene of a riot was on the TV. I vividly remember my mother saying, “Why would any person want to go into law enforcement today?”

To understand the magnitude of that question, you’d have to know that my father was a chief of police for 25 years. Growing up, he taught us the importance of law and order. He taught us that two wrongs don’t make a right. And he instilled in us respect for our fellow man.

So, you can imagine the shock on my face after hearing my mother say what she did. We were always so proud of my father. For 25 years, he represented and defined law and order for my hometown. My father was Kansas Officer of the Year and former president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. So, in his world, there was right and wrong. There was a law, and it was unambiguous. If you broke the law in El Dorado, Kansas, Vic Marshall was going to throw you in jail. He didn’t care who you were, where you came from, or how much money you made — he represented the law.

As I walked out the door that night, I reflected on my father’s career. I thought about what my mother said, and it took me back to 2014, when my father said that President Barack Obama didn’t have the backs of the men and women in blue. It reminded me as I was preparing my remarks for a live, televised debate that the central role of government at all levels is to maintain public safety. After all, the very first paragraph of the Constitution is all about public safety.

Like many of you, I sat with my jaw hanging when the Biden-Harris administration recently accused the GOP of defunding the police. It’s simply not factual. While the White House tried to trot out a false narrative that its latest partisan COVID-19 package would have boosted funding for law enforcement, not once did the president or any Democrat say the funds could be used to fund the police when they tried to sell the bill.

Now, after seeing a dramatic increase in violence across the country, they are saying that billions of dollars for state and local governments could be used to fund the police. Do they think people will fall for this? Certainly not after this past year, in which we saw numerous radical Democrats call to defund the police.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “Defunding police means defunding police. It does not mean budget tricks or funny math.” Her fellow Democratic Rep. Cori Bush underscored her point: “So yes, defund your butts. Defund you.” And leave it to Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib to take it one step further, saying, “No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.”

We’ve seen these radical socialist views implemented in over a dozen major cities across the country by leaders who slashed funding from their police departments in 2020. Minneapolis cut $1.1 million out of its police budget and, in turn, has seen a 152% increase in homicides since 2019 and a 23% increase in all violent crimes in the same time frame. Atlanta had 157 homicides in 2020, the most in over 20 years. These views also contributed to the homicide rate in 20 major cities across the country rising 28% in the first three months of 2021 compared to 2020.

This past year of riots and disregard for law and order reminds me of growing up in the ’60s. Violence is up because of cultural changes created by turning heads away from violence, ignoring riots, and overlooking vandalism. And the uptick in violence is yet another crisis created by radical socialist policies and dangerous rhetoric. The bottom line? Socialist democrats created this crisis.

They defunded the police. They created the anti-police mobs. They turned their back on and, quite frankly, destroyed the integrity of the police. They turned their heads from violence and vandalism and even glorified them at times. And they opened the borders and continue to turn their heads from illegal immigrants. 

It’s been just over five months since Joe Biden was sworn in as president. In that time, people have seen crisis upon crisis — all self-inflicted and all completely preventable: the border crisis, cyberattacks, rising inflation, a labor shortage, and, of course, the crisis of violence in many cities nationwide.

As the son of a police chief, I know and respect the vital role law enforcement officers play in our communities, and I know the heroic sacrifices they and their families make. The recent rise in unfair criticisms of law enforcement officers is personal to me. It’s past time radical socialists look in the mirror, begin to understand the importance of law and order, respect their fellow man (including those serving in law enforcement), and realize that their calls to defund the police are dangerous and foolish. At a time of rising violent crime in cities across the country, we need more support for our front-line heroes, not less.

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