Fraternal Order of Police National VP: 'Morale is in the tank' after Austin rejected plan to hire more police officers
Joe Gamaldi explained hundreds of officers have resigned or stepped down as anti-police rhetoric and rampant crime cripples the Texas police department.
Fraternal Order of Police National VP, Joe Gamaldi, sounded off Wednesday on "The Faulkner Focus" after Austin, Texas voters rejected a proposal to hire additional police officers, warning that "morale is in the tank." Gamaldi slammed the left's "radical" push to defund the police, emphasizing the importance of investing in law enforcement as crime spikes in the city.
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JOE GAMALDI: When you do a postmortem on what happened in Austin, I think it's important to recognize that the mayor and city council there have basically been giving the finger to the hardworking men and women of law enforcement in the Austin Police Department for quite some time. And what they did is they scared the public. They told them we're going to cut services across the board to try to fund public safety, but what the public should really be scared of is the fact that the murder rate is up 88% in Austin. Austin was once a mecca for the arts and music, and now it's a dangerous community and nobody even wants to walk through with their families.
And if they truly cared about the community there, they would invest in law enforcement because morale is in the tank. I just spoke to an Austin police officer last night. They've had 350 resignations and retirements in the last year. They've got another 250 people up here shortly to leave. And it's gotten so bad that they've actually stopped responding to crimes. Your house gets broken into? Too bad, we're not coming out. They stole from your business? Tough luck, we're not coming, and I tell you, if the mayor had any courage whatsoever, he'd lay his a-- out on the line and he put a vest on and he'd get out there with us and put his life on the line. But I won't hold my breath to see Mayor Adler out there.
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