12 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Retire ‘defund’ slogan for good
The great journalist Edward R.
Murrow once remarked, “Our
major obligation is not to mistake
slogans for solutions.” That credo
is true both in journalism and in real
life.
President Joe Biden seemed to echo
those sentiments during his muchanticipated
meeting last week with
Mayor Eric Adams, Governor Kathy
Hochul and other important New York
offi cials looking to tackle the city’s gun
violence problem.
In his opening remarks, the president
referenced the “defund the police”
chant that had been shouted among
protesters during the George Floyd
protests just two summers ago, and
became something of an anthem for
progressives looking to change law
enforcement.
While Republicans have weaponized
the slogan “defund the police” to
make Democrats look soft on crime,
Biden was having none of that Thursday,
off ering the full support of his
administration to the NYPD and to New
York City in the battle to stop gun crime.
“The answer is not to defund the
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President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with the Attorney General Merrick Garland, New York City Mayor
Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul about gun violence and how to address it.
Photo by Leah Millis/REUTERS
police; it’s to give you the tools, the
training and the funding to be partners,
to be protectors, and the community
needs you,” Biden said.
That statement should mark the end
of the “defund the police” movement
for good.
On its face, the slogan was ill-conceived,
because it fostered something
wholly impossible — abolishing policing
— rather than a genuine call for
more investment in communities, as
many of its supporters had intended.
As we’ve said, the city needs the
NYPD to protect and serve the public
to the best of their ability. It needs good
cops who can rebuild the strained relationship
with the communities they
serve, and it needs them to root out
those who propagate the gun violence
that injures and kills too many people,
young and old, every day.
The January 2022 crime numbers,
announced aft er Biden’s NYPD meeting,
prove their necessity: a 38.5% rise
in major crimes, an astonishing jump.
Shootings were up 31.6% for the month,
two of which resulted in the deaths of
two police offi cers.
We can’t aff ord to sacrifi ce police for
community resources, and vice versa.
The state of our city requires a stronger
police presence equipped with all the
tools needed — both in policing and
prosecuting — to stop the violence,
reverse the crime spike and get the
criminals locked up.
Moderate Democrats like President
Biden, Mayor Adams and Governor
Hochul realize this and they’ve demonstrated
a commitment to make New
York safer than it is today.
At last, they’ve provided real solutions
to our gun violence problem
— not just talk.
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