FBI and Justice Department data find violent crime increase.
In most areas where police agencies are working under federally court-ordered reform agreements, violent crimes are going up. A review of Justice Department and FBI data on all 12 agencies operating under consent agreements since 2012 found that seven of the areas where police agencies are under consent decrees experienced increases in violent crime rates in two years compared to the two years prior to entering into the agreement.
In Los Angeles County, crime skyrocketed 61 percent. Albuquerque, New Mexico, saw a 36 percent increase. The increase in Seattle was 27 percent, New Orleans 20 percent, Maricopa County, Arizona 19 percent, Cleveland 13 percent, and Baltimore 11 percent. Key data for Portland, Oregon, and Newark, New Jersey, also operating under consent decrees, was missing and could not be included in the comparison.
Ferguson, Missouri, East Haven, Connecticut, and Warren, Ohio, saw crime rates drop during the same two-year comparison.
The Justice Department still maintains that, over the long term, crime rates will go down under the agreements on police reform.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For law enforcement agencies across the country as they evaluate policies and procedures to better protect and serve the public.
- For officials in the Justice Department to seek God’s direction on the methods of law enforcement reform.
Sources: Axios, Newsmax
