Police Across America Brace For Another Violent Summer

Donald Trump may not be president anymore, but that won’t stop Anitfa and BLM from getting their riot willies out this summer in response to any number of social justice triggers.

To that end, the Wall Street Journal reports that police departments across the country are “bulking up patrols and implementing new tactics to prepare for what they say could be a violent summer” as states lift COVID-19 restrictions – as if they had any impact on last year’s summer of leftist violence. Also cited is a spike in firearm purchases during the pandemic as gun crimes spiral out of control in major cities.

Shootings and homicides in big U.S. cities are up this year again after rising last year. In the last three months of 2020, homicides rose 32.2% in cities with a population of at least one million, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Quarterly Uniform Crime Report.

In New York City, the number of homicides has reached 146 for the year so far, an increase of 27% from 115 during the same period in 2020. In Dallas, police have counted 75 homicides this year, up from 58 during the same period last year. Chicago police have recorded 195 homicides, up from 160 in the year-ago period. -WSJ

And while y/y crime stats spiking 12 months after the country was locked down is may seem like more of a ‘no shit’ than anything else, keep in mind that New York saw its most violent summer last year since 1996. Meanwhile, the country currently finds itself extremely polarized over more than just police reform, as ongoing tensions in the Middle East have spilled over into US streets, and anti-lockdown activists around the world have been fiercely protesting economy-killing pandemic measures – which we imagine our ‘wise and benevolent’ leaders like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) won’t hesitate to re-implement if COVID-19 even thinks about surging again.

“We’re coming out of the pandemic, life is starting again and more people are going to be out on the street,” said James Shea, Jersey City NJ director of public safety, adding that the city decided to increase the deployment of officers on foot patrol in high-crime areas, as well as expanded the department’s closed-circuit video system.

In Dallas, more officers will be deployed this summer to hot-spots of criminal activity as part of the city’s Violent Crime Reduction Plan, according to Police Chief Eddie Garcia.

In New York, the NYPD will dispatch 200 additional officers and add patrols to 100 blocks in the city with the most gun violence, according to the report, after last year’s chaos. Additional officers have also been deployed to Manhattan business districts in recent weeks, including Times Square, where a recent shooting left three bystanders – including a 4-year-old girl – were injured.

“The warmer months always usually give us more problems when it comes to violence,” said NYPD Chief of Department, Rodney Harrison, who added that gang activity accounts for around half of the shootings in the city – while officers struggled to solve cases during the pandemic due to the NYPD’s strained relationship with residents amid demonstrations against police brutality.

Year-to-date, shootings in New York City are up 86% over 2020, from 242 to 451.