Over 300 LA County Deputies Have Left the Force This Year as Crime Explodes
Deputies are fleeing Los Angeles County at an alarming rate as rampant crime, homelessness and anti-police demagoguery boils over.
More than 440 deputies have left the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department this year, according to Fox News.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva stated that the department requested it be allowed to hire hundreds of more deputies to fill the ranks as the county faces the “existential threats” of skyrocketing violence, homelessness and a cannabis industry run amok.
The department was defunded by $145 million last year, according to Fox, resulting in the elimination of some 1,130 positions on the force which serves all of Los Angeles County’s 10 million residents.
Journalist Bill Melugin tweeted some of the more horrifying statistics about the trials the county faces in the wake of last year’s violent unrest and subsequent spree of anti-police legislation.
NEW: @LACoSheriff releases new 2021 crime stats for L.A. County vs same time period in 2020.
Homicides: ⬆️ 95%
GTA: ⬆️ 40%
Rape: ⬆️ 7.8%
Agg. Assault: ⬆️ 12.9%
Arson: ⬆️ 22%He says LASD will start processing more CCW permits due to “less cops, more crooks, less consequences.”
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 2, 2021
The convulsions of violence caused by Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters throughout 2020 will, ironically, result in some of the least progressive policies being implemented in crime-hit areas such as L.A.
In one such instance, private security app Citizen announced that it was actively experimenting with privatizing law enforcement services in L.A., a move that could have resulted in protection only being given to those who can afford it.
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In another, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced that it would be issuing more concealed carry permits so that county residents would be able to protect themselves.
It is difficult to imagine that all the “abolish the police” vitriol was for this: L.A. is more violent, more residents will carry guns in public and, of course, there will be fewer police officers to protect and serve anyone who is unfortunate enough to be caught in a life and death situation.
Difficult to imagine, perhaps, yet not surprising.
The number of officers shot in 2021 is already on track to surpass the historic levels of 2020, after all, with many of them being killed in ambush-style attacks.
Is it any wonder that droves of police are choosing to turn in their badges and call it a day?
Is it any wonder that being vilified and demonized by establishment media and leftist politicians merely for doing one’s job might have adverse consequences?
Alas, for more than a year, the dominant form of rhetoric across the American left has been outright hatred for law and order, and now the consequences of that rhetoric and the promotion of its associated violence are coming home to roost.
We are seeing a huge rise in violent crime across America, and our police are facing it, often without respect, validation or even funding.
And so they are fleeing.
The left is going to have to change their tune, and soon, or American cities are simply going to begin self-destructing before our eyes.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
