Although there was a temporary law enforcement reaction, homeowners claim by March situations returned to normal.
Ocasio-Cortez has stayed mainly silent on the matter despite the growing crime figures. Critics contend her remarks during the height of the “defund the police” movement has helped to explain the NYPD’s declining morale and recruiting crisis.
Defunding police means defunding police, so Ocasio-Cortez questioned a $1.5 billion suggested NYPD budget cut as inadequate at the height of the movement in 2020.
The NYPD canceled a cadet class scheduled to recruit roughly 1,101 cops that same year. She said in 2021 that worries about growing crime were “hysteria,” then in 2022 that “police budgets have nothing to do with crime levels.”
She and other progressive “Squad” members cast votes against a resolution denouncing initiatives to cut municipal law enforcement budgets in 2023.
According to Manhattan Institute Director of Police and Public Safety Hannah Meyers, such propaganda has degraded public safety.
