Blame-mongering for violence is an effective cudgel for conservative state-level politicians to wield against liberal cities
As of May 16th, murders were up by 59% in Atlanta compared with the same period in 2020. Rapes, aggravated assaults and thefts from and of cars are also well above levels in 2020. Nor is this just an Atlanta problem. Nationally, the spike in murders that began in 2020—according to data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, homicides in American cities rose by 33% from 2019 to 2020—shows no sign of abating.
Whatever the reason, “homicides can be sticky”, says John Pfaff of Fordham University in New York. “A shooting in March can lead to a subsequent shooting in July, when retaliation comes up.” In other words, even if the pandemic is partly responsible for the homicide spike, any post-pandemic decline may well be gradual.
But before she leaves office, she plans to hire another 250 police officers. Other cities have taken a similar approach. Minneapolis, where a majority of the city council voted last year to defund and disband the police department, will spend $6.4m to hire new officers. While president of Baltimore’s city council, Brandon Scott championed a measure to cut the police department’s budget by $22.4m; since taking office last December as mayor, he has proposed increasing it by $28m.
Still, blame-mongering for violence is an effective cudgel for conservative state-level politicians to wield against liberal cities. Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Republican governor, is making Atlanta crime central to his re-election campaign—the better to win back Trump-hesitant Republicans in the city’s suburbs. Florida has passed a law that lets the governor and his cabinet reverse any changes to cities’ police budgets that they deem unwise.