Copaganda List

A study was published recently that found almost no likelihood that police departments, post-2020, lost cops in significant numbers during the time after George Floyd's murder and the subsequent protests. The paper looked at all the jobs in 6,800 police departments — half of the departments in the U.S. By the end of 2021, the "cumulative impact on the labor force" overall was 1%.

On BlueSky in response, Radley Balko asked,

Anyone keeping track of the narratives pushed by law and order centrists during the pandemic that have disintegrated?

I've got the shoplifting panic, cops quitting because of protesters, progressive DAs ushering in new age of crime and violence, bail reform = more crime . . .

Reponses were:

Fentanyl death by proximity.

BLM “destroying” America’s urban cores is up there for lies told. People STILL think downtown Portland is a smoking ruin. Even people in the suburbs.

Same with Minneapolis. I've been told so many times it burned down. I guess I'm hallucinating living in an intact house near a nice green park and tree-lined creek.

Masking leads to crime.

My favorite was the businesses that were "poisoning" or refusing to serve law enforcement.

Crime stats are down because prosecutors aren't prosecuting. Followed shortly by cops aren't arresting because of catch and release.

There's still frequently stuff being blamed on city police departments getting defunded, despite the fact that none actually DID lose funding.

Here in the Twin Cities, we are currently dealing with these exact things: attacks on Mary Moriarty, the progressive D.A. elected in Hennepin County, and claims that the Minneapolis Police were "defunded," when in fact their funding is at an all-time high. 

The City Council is in the midst of discussing a 21% pay increase for the cops, even though they're under a federal consent decree for their many violations of residents' civil rights. For instance, the city is now up to $7.25 million in payouts for police behavior in just the few days right after killing George Floyd. That doesn't count all of the early retirement and disability payouts they're making to cops who've been quiet quitting since 2020.

And crime is down to 2019 levels while there are fewer cops out there, meanwhile.