One of the leading stories on FOX News today was the nation’s seriously rising crime rate; especially violent crime. When recently asked what might account for the continuously upwardly rising crimes in more than 40 cities across the country, FBI Director Comey indicated that he was a bit perplexed, but has previously blamed the crime rate in part on what he refers to as the “viral video effect,” suggesting that cops are deterred from more active policing because they fear being filmed and ending up on line. Now personally, I like Director Comey. He is an intelligent guy and perhaps the most ethical FBI Director we have had in years.
However, as a retired cop who interacts professionally with cops and crime every day, I would suggest that if you really want to know why we are experiencing soaring crimes, don’t ask an insulated law enforcement administrator – ask any cop and they will tell you. This is not rocket science. Here are the basic reasons:
- A criminal justice system that is in a shambles – Overly cumbersome, capricious in sentencing, politically correct and racially intimidated; our current system of “justice” in the courtroom is often more coincidental than it is intentional. I spend a lot of time in state and federal courts as an expert and I and police officers experience this on an on-going basis.
- Not adhering to laws already on the books – We don’t need more laws; we just need judges to properly sentence criminals to the time that violations of our laws indicate. When criminals know they can plea for lesser sentences and then get released far earlier than the law says, there is no deterrent factor to committing future crime.
- Prisons are about punishment – not rehabilitation – No one but cops and probation officers understand why certain people repeatedly offend; why others do their time and return to society and don’t re-offend. Our prisons are not set up to address the root causes of crime. Our governments and prison administrators do nothing to address the root causes of crime while they have a captive audience. Unfortunately, no real education, job skill building, or character building takes place in prisons. It’s “too expensive.” Really? How about people who have no education or meaningful job skills returning to society and then re-offending. That’s not expensive? Until we change the uninformed, bureaucratic mindset of people who you wouldn’t trust to walk your dog or park your car, we are stuck with this archaic system of incarceration that only punishes.
- Disengaged communities in denial of their historic problems – The problems with our newer generations is that they spend all of their assigning blame and not taking responsibility and ownership for their bad life decisions. These days, they blame, “The Man,” racism, the government; anyone they can, just as long is that it’s not them who have created their problems.
Take the City of Chicago for example with their insane violent crime rate. So far this month (May 29 – June 5) there have been 98 people shot and 16 people killed just in acts of gun violence. A person in Chicago is shot every 2:22 minutes and murdered every 13:48 minutes. Amazing? No, what is amazing is the demographics that document that nearly 75% of the victims and/or their assailants were black. This is referred to as “black on black crime.”
While the pundits are talking about this dynamic, literally no black leaders are doing anything about it including our black President and our Black Attorney General. To put this into context for you, so far this year in Chicago alone 256 blacks have been murdered. This equates to 441% more deaths than all U.S. military combat causalities sustained in both Iraq and Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016! That’s right, your chances of being murdered in Chicago are over 400% higher than being killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is literally a black genocide taking place in Chicago and in many other major urban cities across this nation – but not if you ask the hypocritical “Black Lives Matter” crowd. They would rather spin, deflect and redirect the issue to racist police violence. These people are the America’s Nazi party version of holocaust deniers. The black on black crime problem in this country will not be solved by white people. The black community must become meaningfully engaged in serious strategies that mitigate the cause and effect factors of violent crime.
- The diminishing of law enforcement – FBI Comey Director and others are in fact correct; police officers are experiencing the “Ferguson Effect” and are more reluctant to act proactively in reducing crime and criminal activity. The old days of developing reasonable suspicion to stop/detain/search suspicious persons, or “Shake, Rattle and Roll” in high crime communities is waning. However, the real problem is not really a reluctance on the part of officers because of some “viral video effect,” as Director Comey believes. It is because of a lack of leadership in city government and from police administrators who refuse to support their officers when they are acting appropriately.
When uninformed city administrators capitulate to Black Lives Matter political activists and law enforcement administrators seek to protect their pensions over their people as recently seen during the anti-Trump rally in San Jose (CA); and fail in their community care taking responsibility to protect citizens; then crime and anarchy flourish. Fighting crime is an ugly business; but it takes intelligence, commitment and heroic courage to reduce it.
- The War on Police - Violence against police on the rise – Not only is violent crime against the citizenry on the rise, but violence against police is rising as well. Since 2015, approximately 53 police officers have been murdered in the streets of this nation. Twenty of those officers have already been murdered this year. If the officer KIA’s occur at this same alarming rate, by the end of this year, 52 officers will have been murdered.
Again, to provide some context for the reader, 52 officers lost in one year, would equate to all U.S. combat fatalities in the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan (58 fatalities). In other words, it is less safe today to be a police officer on the streets of this nation than is an active war zone.
Make no mistake about it, this nation is at a critical juncture in its history. We are in fact in an active battle over the soul of the core values and the direction of our nation’s destiny. Black Lives Matter movement supporters, Occupy anarchists, and radical leftists are all engaged in forwarding anti-law enforcement false narratives designed to diminish, degrade and defund law enforcement that protects the Rule of Law. Democratic governments simply cannot exist without the protection of law enforcement who are the sheepdogs protecting the sheep against the wolves.
Crime rates cannot be reduced and innocent citizens cannot be protected without us supporting the men and women who wear the badge and risk their lives on a daily basis to keep us safe and ensure our civil rights. If you really want to take a bite out of crime, then you all better figure out what side you are on. Ultimately, you get the government and the peace and security you create or destroy by your inaction and lack of law enforcement support. Like I said, this ain’t rocket science and any cop will tell you that.
About the Author
Ron Martinelli, Ph.D., CMI-V, is a Forensic Criminologist and Certified Medical
Investigator who directs the nation’s only Forensic Death Investigations &
Independent Review Team. Dr. Martinelli is a retired San Jose (CA) Police
Department police officer and detective and author of the new best-selling book,
“The Truth Behind the Black Lives Matter Movement and the War on Police”
(Amazon.com). His forensic site is at www.DrRonMartinelli.com.
References
http://www.nleomf.org/facts/research-bulletins/
http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/
https://news.vice.com/article/fbi-director-james-comey-links-viral-video-effect-to-spike-in-crime-rates
