Another US city that voted to defund the police is being wracked with deadly violence.
At least 53 murders have been reported in Portland as of December 24 – the highest yearly total the city has seen in nearly 30 years, local news station KGW8 reported. At least 850 shootings have been reported in Portland as of December 24, with 59 reported so far this month, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) statistics show. There were 33 shootings reported in December of last year, Fox reported.
As of Christmas Eve, this year’s shootings had surpassed last year’s by more than 116 per cent, with 393 shootings reported in all of 2019, statistics show.
PPB Chief Chuck Lovell sent out a tweet telling his followers the police department and the community “need to do everything we can together to break the cycle of violence.
“Gun violence has plagued our city at twice the rate of last year,” he said. “On average, someone is shot in Portland roughly every two days,” he said urging the public not to “lose sight of the fact that these are human beings who have died.
“We’ve come together to mask up, to stay home to keep others safe. We have come together to do our best to stop the spread of a deadly disease – violence is also a disease that kills and our community is suffering the consequences.”
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See Also:
(1) Defund the police? Georgia Democrats on defensive over Black Lives Matter PAC support
(2) Charged with murder, stabbing? In NYC, you’re free to go