If you’re a police officer and feeling discouraged about possible talk of your department being defunded, there might be a place for you that’s welcoming and apparently in need of good officers. Officers in places like Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis and New York City — among others — have been retiring, resigning and weighing their options in the wake of their cities turning their backs on them.
That’s where the city of Houston comes in.
Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo spoke with KRIV-TV in Houston on Monday following the graduation ceremony of 44 new officers to their department. Acevedo told the outlet that the “people of Houston” aren’t on board with people from other cities who are calling for police to be defunded.
“People of Houston, they don’t want less policing, they want better policing and well-trained police officers,” Acevedo said.
The chief referenced the city of Austin, Texas a week after that city’s police department had $150 million cut from their budget.
“I think it’s ridiculous when you make decisions that are knee-jerk political decisions that are not based on evidence, not based on research,” said Acevedo. “It ends up impacting the safety of American people in Austin.”
“Knee-jerk political decisions” like that are made because leftist politicians in places like Austin predicate every decision based on feelings and identity quotas. Facts just seem to get in the way.
Acevedo then made an offer to disgruntled officers from Austin and the rest of the country.
“I will just say to police officers in Austin, and the good police officers across the country, come to Houston,” Acevedo said.
We’re already seeing the effects that defunding police departments not only has on officers, but cities themselves. Officers in places like New York City are making less arrests, which has in turn led to a precipitous rise in violent crime.
Are there bad cops? Absolutely. But they are a minority in relation to the amount of good officers there are out there. When you disenfranchise good officers, it has a profound impact on how they do their jobs.
So, yeah. Maybe police officers should just go where they’re wanted and/or appreciated. But as we know about good cops, they go where they’re needed, not necessarily wanted. They do their very difficult jobs day in and day out without very much praise, but that’s not why they do the job. Most just want to keep the people in their area safe.
For local coverage of the story, watch below:
H/T: The Blaze