Leader of anti-police group calls for chores instead of prison for criminals
Co-founder of 'Save Austin Now,' Cleo Petricek, on public safety and anti-police rhetoric.
Austin, Texas is one of the major U.S. cities that is suffering the consequences of the Defund Police movement and the left's anti-police rhetoric from the riots in 2020.
Co-founder of "Save Austin Now" Cleo Petricek joined "Fox & Friends First" Friday to call out a leader of an anti-police group -- who was applauded by the city's previous mayor – who suggested that burglars should do chores at their victim's house instead of serving prison time.
"Everyone should be held accountable. However, hating police and expressing support for groups that want to abolish police departments should not be taken seriously. They have gone way too far, and they've hurt the very communities that all this wokeness was supposed to help."
'HUGE' PARTS OF AUSTIN LEFT 'UNPOLICED' AFTER CITY CONTRACT FIGHT TRIGGERS MASS OFFICER EXODUS
AUSTIN, TX - JULY 29: A member of the Austin, Texas police department stands watch during the Gold Cup semifinal match between the United States and Qatar on Thursday July 29th, 2021 at Q2 stadium in Austin,TX. ((Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images))
According to the New York Post, despite the city setting a record for homicides in 2021 after dramatically cutting its police budget and 911 response times climbing to hours even for serious crimes, Chas Moore, head of the Austin Justice Coalition, believes police and prisons should be abolished.
"I believe that we can get to a world where we don’t have police and where we don’t have prisons," said the activist — whose grip on Austin officials is so strong, they declared Oct. 22 "Chas Moore Day" last year and presented with a key to the city.
"Someone breaks into my home; I call the police, and then what?" he asked.
"Even if they find the person, now the person goes to jail. We didn’t really fix anything. We punished this person in a way that’s not really helpful. Let’s work out a deal to where I can still hold you accountable. I would actually say instead of sending her to jail, let’s say she pays me back by cleaning my house for the next six weeks."
Petricek said, "these insane comments should be laughed out of our city."
She called out former Mayor Steve Adler for giving Moore a key to the city.
"They've let this individual and his extremist crowd write police policy, and interfere in police contract negotiations."
Petricek said she was once a member of the Austin Justice Coalition but left when they were expressing support for defunding the police, a view she believes is not held by a majority of Austin residents and should not be taken seriously.
"I believe in social services. I believe in an act of police work, the ability to have a police presence in our communities to counteract the increase in violent crime that we've seen. But this shutting down of prisons, not holding murderers accountable, this is craziness. And I would love to hear what the mayor has to say in response to that. Will he continue to have partnerships with people who had these insane views of our police department?"
A convicted felon himself — for second-degree robbery when he was 17 — Moore told The Post he’d be willing to forgive even the most violent crimes.
"If someone went into my grandma’s house with a f—ing shotgun and blew her brains out, I’m going to be sad, I’m going to go through the whole f—ing array of human emotions, but at some point, if I’m able to really sit with that, there’s no level or retribution that’s going to make me feel any type of way," he stated.
"What do I actually gain by having this person held accountable in a system like jail or prison?"
The New York Post contributed to this report.
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