Progressive leaders in cities and states across America are reversing radical policies on policing and drugs in the face of a voter backlash, soaring crime and a surge in overdose deaths.
In San Francisco and Portland, leaders are reversing liberal drug policies after they led to a sharp rise in addiction and deaths by overdose.
And across the country in New York, Mayor Eric Adams wants changes the Big Apple’s sanctuary status following a surge in migrant arrivals. The city has also announced the drastic step of stationing National Guard troops on its subway in response to a rise in crime.
These policy shifts come as moderate Democrats in some blue strongholds attempt to oust their most progressive leaders, including in Washington DC, where activists are trying to oust two prominent councilmembers following a sharp rise in violent crime.
The policy shifts mark a stark tilt away from radical policies including drug decriminalization and the defunding of police forces – measures which have been blamed for causing the crises.
In cities including San Francisco to New York, voters and leaders are rethinking liberal policies as they face issues including rising crime and drug use. Elsewhere, progressive politicians face the boot
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San Francisco
The people of San Francisco – a city which was once the poster child of liberal America – voted on Tuesday in favor of laws that will enforce stricter drug policies and also give more powers to police.
The ballot showed support for two measures which will give police greater powers to pursue criminal suspects and also require drug screenings for adults receiving welfare.
Voters backed the measures amid a crisis in the city brought about by rising homeless and drug taking, combined with a failure to recover from the impacts of the pandemic on business.
San Francisco voted in favor of measures to strengthen police powers and drug control through a ballot endorsed by Mayor London Breed
San Francisco has struggled to recover from the pandemic and parts of its downtown are blighted by homelessness and drug taking
Homeless people are seen in San Francisco, California, United States on February 26, 2024
Polls showed Measure E, the vote on police powers, won the backing of around 60 percent of voters. Measure F, which will enforce drug screening rules, won 63 percent support.
Embattled Democrat Mayor London Breed, who is campaigning for reelection in November, placed both measures on the ballot and said they would help tackle crime and the drug crisis.
Opponents said both ballot measures were out of step with San Francisco’s support for privacy and civil liberties and will hurt marginalized communities.
But Breed, the first black woman to lead San Francisco, said at a January campaign stop that residents from poorer, black and immigrant neighborhoods are pleading for more police.
Drug recovery advocates are demanding change as a record 806 people died of overdoses last year amid an explosion in fentanyl use.
Violent crimes are low in San Francisco, but the city has long struggled with rampant quality-of-life crimes including property crime. Breed has said rates of retail theft and auto smash-ins have declined recently, thanks in large part to strategic operations by city police.
New York
New York Mayor Eric Adams has called for an overhaul of its sanctuary city status as his administrations battles with the impact of 180,000 migrant arrivals since the beginning of last year.
The city is also taking radical steps to tackle rising subway crime. On Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced National Guard soldiers and State Police will be deployed onto platforms to solve the crisis.
The measures indicate the willingness of both leaders to take an increasingly tough stance on the city’s most pressing issues.
New York Mayor Eric Adams has called for an overhaul of its sanctuary city status as his administrations battles with the impact of 180,000 migrant arrivals since the start of 2023
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced National Guard soldiers and State Police will be deployed onto subway platforms to tackle a rise in crime on the network
Dozens of recently arrived migrants to New York City camp outside of the Roosevelt Hotel, which was made into a reception center, as they try to secure temporary housing on August 01, 2023
New York State Police, MTAPD and New York National Guard patrol and conduct container inspections at Grand Central Station on March 6, 2024 in New York City
Adams took office with a pledge to maintain the city’s sanctuary status – which protects people from detention or prosecution based on their immigration status.
But that was before the recent influx which Adams has conceded could ‘destroy New York City’.
More than 560 cities, states and counties have declared themselves sanctuaries since the early 1980s and New York adopted the status under former Democrat Mayor Ed Koch.
Speaking on Monday, Adams told a town hall meeting: ‘We need to modify the sanctuary city law that if you commit a felony or violent act we should be able to turn you over to ICE and have you deported.’
Two days later, Governor Hochul was announcing the drastic measure of drafting in almost 1,000 National Guard to try and preventing spiraling subway crime in the city.
She is working with Adams to solve the issue after figures published in mid-February revealed there were 266 crimes on the subway network since the beginning of the year, a 22.6 percent increase on the same period in 2023.
The crackdown will also see subway riders subjected to ‘random’ bag checks while the number of plainclothes cops patrolling the station will be increased.
Adams stressed the subways are particularly seeing an increase in attacks on MTA workers, which he blamed on a small number of criminals being able to target people hundreds of times each.
He noted that 38 people were arrested for a staggering 1,126 attacks on MTA workers in 2023, while 542 people were arrested last year for over 7,600 shoplifting crimes.
Portland, Oregon
Oregon lawmakers passed a bill on March 1 to recriminalize possession of drugs in response to a statewide fentanyl crisis which has brought Portland, the state’s most populous city, to its knees.
The bill recriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs reverses a key part of the state’s drug decriminalization law, which was the first of its kind in the U.S.
Progressive leaders who touted decriminalization promised it would end criminal convictions for the city’s most vulnerable citizens and also refocus efforts on recovery from addiction.
Instead, Oregon has seen a 190 percent increase in overdose deaths since the initial decriminalization bill went into effect in February 2021, according to the CDC. Areas of downtown Portland have been taken over by homeless drug addicts who openly use fentanyl in broad daylight.
Oregon Goveror Tina Kotek and other state lawmakers have passed a bill on March 1 to recriminalize possession of drugs in response to a statewide fentanyl crisis
A state of emergency was declared in Portland following a surge in fentanyl use and overdoses
In the 12 months leading up to February 2021, there were 861 overdose deaths in Oregon; that number increased to 1,650 deaths in the same 12-month period ending in September 2023.
The decision to walk back on the policy has been couple with an increase in funding for police after budgets were slashed in the wake of BLM protests and the ‘defund the police’ movement.
Homicides hit record highs in 2022 and violent offences also surged, but crime was down markedly last year after the budget increases were implemented.
The sharp rise in crime started in 2020, when Portland City Council voted to approve $15 million in reductions to the police bureau and 84 sworn staff positions were cut.
Portland’s homicide rate exploded from 36 in 2019 to 85 last year, which followed a record 97 homicides in 2022, according to Portland Police Bureau data.
Violent crime rates also increased significantly since 2019, according to separate FBI statistics.
In November 2021, little more than a year after police budgets were cut, Mayor Ted Wheeler acknowledged ‘many Portlanders no longer feel safe’ and the city council voted to increase police spending by $5.2 million.
Washington DC
Big efforts are underway in Washington DC to recall two leading councilmembers over a surge in crime.
The progressive figureheads, Charles Allen and Brianne Nadeau, would become the first ever to be recalled from office if the campaigns are successful.
Efforts are underway in Washington DC to recall two leading councilmembers over a surge in crime. The progressive figureheads, Charles Allen (pictured) and Brianne Nadeau, would become the first ever to be recalled from office if the campaigns are successful
Allen’s recall campaigners have raised more than $100,000. Many of its backers are prominent democrats who are angry at the cities spiraling crime.
Homicides increased by 35 percent in 2023 to 274, while robbery rates increased by 67 percent, contributing to an overall 39 percent increase in violent crime.
Last year was the city’s deadliest in more than two decades.
A former U.S. attorney appointed by George W. Bush, Brett Tolman, who is executive director of the conservative criminal justice reform group Right on Crime, has also blamed Washington’s chief prosecutor not prosecuting most cases.
Tolman said recently that the solution is simple – and not define by politics.
‘We do not need to change the law. We do not need a president coming in and using the National Guard to take over the city. All you need is a person on the job, whether Republican or Democrat, telling people they will enforce the law,’ he said.
