Citizens Behind the Badge Updates
Citizens Behind the Badge Updates
The leading voice of the American people in support of law enforcement
“The police are the public and the public are the police.” Sir Robert Peel, the Father of Modern Policing
A Remedy to America’s Police Shortage Crisis
Retired police officers and current police forces illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times
Police agencies across our nation are facing severe officer shortages, and CBB has made finding a solution to this crisis a top priority! Our nation lost 40,000 law enforcement officers between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2022 due to the “defund and defame the police” movement. CBB Law Enforcement Advisory Council member Art Gordon, a past president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, has proposed a remedy. In his op-ed authored on behalf of CBB and recently published in The Washington Times, he called for the establishment of a police reserve force comprised of thousands of retired law enforcement officers. If a national security or public safety crisis occurs, these reserve officers could be called upon to assist. His entire commentary can be viewed on the link below.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/mar/27/thousands-of-retired-officers-are-willing-to-assis/
The Spike in Suburban & Rural Crime
Some would like us to believe that there is no longer a public safety crisis in the U.S. Don’t believe it! Nationwide, suburban and rural crime is rising at alarming rates. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, there was a 21% increase in robbery rates in the suburbs in 2022 (latest data available), compared to the prior year, and rural robbery rates spiked 44%. Gun violence also rose in both areas, including 66,000 more reported cases of gun victimizations in rural areas in 2022 compared to 2021—a rate not seen since 1997. And violent crime committed by strangers rose in all geographic areas, according to the NCVS, with victimizations up 37% in urban areas, 73% higher in the suburbs, and up 102% in rural locales. CBB founder and president, Craig W. Floyd, recently discussed this alarming trend on the popular podcast, “3 Cops Talk.” Click on the link below to listen.
https://www.3copstalk.com/the-spike-in-suburban-rural-crime-with-craig-floyd-ceo-of-citizens-behind-the-badge/
Youth Crime is Out of Control
Our lax criminal justice system, fatherless homes and an erosion of mores in our nation has led to a juvenile delinquency crisis. Children and teens are committing violent crimes at a staggering rate, especially in our nation’s capital. The truancy rate is through the roof and poor parenting is at the root of the problem. CBB founder and president Craig W. Floyd recently sounded off on this juvenile deliquency crisis in a Letter to the Editor published in The Washington Post (see below).
OPINIONS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hold parents accountable
The Post’s April 4 front-page article “Bill from D.C. mayor targets youth violence and truancy” discussed Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s plan “to address a crisis among young people in the District.” She is right to be concerned. Last year, 106 children and teenagers in D.C. were shot. Sixteen of them died. Carjackings in the city nearly doubled in 2023, and the average age of those arrested for carjacking was 15. Guns were used in the commission of half of these crimes. And 37 percent of all D.C. school students last year were truant.
The mayor’s plan to get tougher with violent juvenile criminals is commendable. But I want to also applaud her for wanting to hold parents accountable if their children do not go to school. Fine the parents or put them in jail if their children are habitually truant. It’s the law, but, as The Post reported, no such penalties have been imposed in D.C. “in recent years.”
Recently, we learned that three D.C. individuals had been arrested and charged with the horrific beating to death of an elderly man with disabilities. The suspects are three girls ages of 12 and 13. According to The Post, all three had long-standing truancy issues. One of the girls reportedly did not attend a single day of classes this year. During their court hearings, The Post reported, “the girls’ parents sat in the back of the courtroom.” It appears that these parents, and many others in D.C., have for too long taken a back seat when it comes to raising their children.
Craig Floyd, Alexandria
The writer is president of Citizens Behind the Badge.
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When CBB posted a tribute to fallen Chicago police officer Luis Huesca, 30, who was shot and killed on 4-21-24 during an apparent carjacking on his way home from his shift:
Natal D. commented: “Heartbreaking. When will this evil stop?”
Commenting on CBB’s report that Denver had recently defunded their police department by $8 million so more money could be available to aid migrants flooding the city:
Tom J. said: “That makes ZERO sense . . . With the migrant influx they should be increasing [police] funding.”
When CBB reported that Minneapolis is having to spend millions now to fix the police department they ruined starting with an $8 million budget cut in 2020:
Daniel M. commented: “The bottom line is that the defund movement was started, exacerbated, and encouraged by different fingers on the same hand creating a fist that punched a hole through civil society. Unless the citizens of America decide on a definitive, united pathway forward the fallout will continue...and Death will follow.”
When CBB reported that Pittsburgh police can no longer respond to certain emergency calls due to an officer shortage crisis:
Michaela G. replied: “The media demonize police officers at every chance they get, but nobody wins when that same witch hunt leads to short staffing across the country. It’s amazing how we can have so little respect until one of us actually needs help.”
When CBB reported that police in St. Louis (MO) may soon have to work an 11-hour shift because they have 300 officer vacancies:
Duane W. commented: “Longer shifts=more mental and physical fatigue, more fatigue=lowered cognitive ability, lowered cognitive ability=more mistakes, more mistakes=greater chance for big mistakes that lead to tragedy.”