Crime jumps in DOJ police reform cities

By Dennis Domrzalski

Earlier this year, the federal court judge who is overseeing Albuquerque's police reform case asked lawyers in the case if the reforms were causing Albuquerque's crime rate to soar.Two lawyers for the Albuquerque Police Officers Association gave strangely muddled answers and wound up saying that the crime increase was not related to the reform process.

In fact, the lawyers sounded like they were trying to guess what they thought the judge wanted to hear, rather than telling him what they believed to be the truth. Well, it's too bad that this article from AXIOS on police reform and rising crime rates hadn't been published yet. The police union's lawyers could have used it. So could have Judge James Browning, who is presiding over Albuquerque's case.

The article says that crime has jumped--sometimes dramatically--in seven of the 12 communities that have entered into police reform consent decrees with the DOJ since 2012.

In Albuquerque, crime has soared by 36 percent compared to the two years before the consent was signed. In Los Angeles County, crime has jumped by 61 percent, and it the city of Seattle it has risen by 27 percent.

The article doesn't offer an explanation for the rising crime rates, but we can guess that's because cops are afraid to do their jobs for fear of being disciplined or fired.