Press Releases
Scalise and Rutherford: Let's Honor the Fallen This National Police Week
Washington, DC,
May 15, 2022
Today, on Peace Officers Memorial Day, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Congressman John Rutherford (R-Fla.) co-authored an op-ed for the Washington Examiner honoring the service and sacrifice of fallen police officers. Whip Scalise and Congressman Rutherford wrote about the need to support law enforcement officers who risk their own safety to keep Americans safe and emphasized the importance of resisting the radical “Defund the Police” movement, which has weakened police departments and left law enforcement officers feeling demoralized.
Thousands of police officers and their families from across the country will gather on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, Peace Officers Memorial Day, to honor the law enforcement officers who died while in service to their communities. As we observe National Police Week, we pay tribute to these fallen heroes and pledge to continue our support for their families and fellow officers. We must defend our police officers from the onslaught of attacks they face every day from politicians on the far Left whose rhetoric emboldens criminals on the street. Democratic rallying cries to “defund the police” only make law enforcement a more difficult and dangerous profession.
Communities with a strong police force feel safe because residents know brave officers stand ready to defend them from criminals. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, many Democrats call to dismantle law enforcement agencies across the country. Their anti-police actions and rhetoric have jeopardized the safety of hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers and caused the increase in violent crime we see nationwide.
In 2021, 346 police officers were shot in the line of duty, an all-time high. This is a 115% increase compared to 2020. Tragically, 63 officers died from these vicious attacks. So far, in 2022, 105 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty.
Law enforcement officers no longer feel supported. They have been defunded, demoralized, and delegitimized by radical zealots within the Democratic Party. “Guilty until proven innocent” has become the status quo in nearly every officer-involved incident. In President Joe Biden’s America, vicious mobs gather outside police departments and hurl obscenities at police and their families outside officers’ homes.
Police departments in Democrat-run cities see their budgets slashed by liberal politicians, making it more challenging to recruit the qualified officers they need to keep communities safe.
This “defund the police” madness means many officers will be less likely to continue to serve in law enforcement. Last year alone, 150 officers left the New Orleans Police Department and were replaced with only 33 new hires. This is taking place across America.
According to the Police Executive Research Forum, which surveyed nearly 200 police departments across the country, retirements were up by 45%, and resignations increased by 18% from April 2020 to April 2021. Data also reveal that a larger percentage of officers left departments in big or medium-sized cities.
With defunding efforts resulting in fewer officers in the field, it is no surprise that violent crime and murders are skyrocketing in the Democrat-run cities that have deliberately undermined their police departments. More than 15 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; and St. Paul, Minnesota, saw 2021 homicide numbers shatter previous records. In 2020, the United States recorded more than 20,000 murders, a 30% increase over the year before.
You can draw a direct line from Democrats’ extreme policies, such as ending cash bail and allowing violent criminals back onto the streets, to the rise in assaults against law enforcement. In addition to the everyday sacrifices that our law enforcement heroes make – long hours away from their families and physically and emotionally demanding cases – they now need to worry about being attacked on the job. It is despicable that Democratic leaders across the country continue to push policies that make a dangerous job increasingly more lethal. How many officers must die, and how much must crime rise before Democrats wake up to the reality that “defund the police” leads to the loss of innocent lives and doesn’t work?
Supporting our police officers should not be a political issue. It is common sense. These are the men and women who protect our children, fight crime, and uphold public safety. The radical Left’s smears against the law enforcement community are shameful. We have an obligation to do everything we can to back the blue, and we must never forget the heroic men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our communities safe.
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