Solution to our crime contagion: Don’t feed the animals

OPINION:

The answer to our crime contagion can be summed up in four words. As the signs in zoos used to say: Don’t feed the animals.

What we’re witnessing in our streets, schools and at the border is the unraveling of the social order. We are committing national suicide, assisted by our elites.

Each day, 7,000 illegals cross our southern border. When Title 42 ends, the number is expected to swell to 14,000. The administration’s policy is not to deter illegals but to process them as quickly as possible. Along with the alien horde come crime, disease, drugs and soaring social costs.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reflects the administration’s twisted logic: Why won’t Republicans help us fix a problem we created by giving us more money not to keep illegals out (God forbid!), but to care for them once we let them in?

But the anarchy doesn’t end at the border.

On Nov. 28, Wayne Ivey, sheriff of Brevard County, Florida, had a press conference on crime in local schools. He said it’s out of control because there are no consequences. (“They know nothing’s gonna happen.”)

According to the Florida Department of Education, there were 1,470 criminal, violent or disruptive acts in the county’s schools in 2020-2021, including striking, kicking and biting teachers. Two of the fledgling scholars performed a sex act in class that was recorded by another student. No word on how many suspensions, expulsions or other disciplinary actions resulted from this execrable behavior. Hint: What’s between the president’s ears?

What we’re seeing in our cities has been decades in the making: Criminals aren’t responsible for their actions; blame society instead. Law enforcement is racist. And after the 2020 riots: Defund the police and reimagine law enforcement — as social workers with badges.

In 2020, arrests were at an all-time low in Chicago, while homicides hit a 25-year high. The police know that no one has their back.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot isn’t worried. She has a squad of 70 officers detailed for her personal protection. Her honor has a new way to fight crime — block civilian access to police scanners. If you don’t know what’s happening, it’s not happening.

Illinois is following Chicago’s lead into the abyss. On Jan. 1, the state will eliminate cash bail for a host of offenses. At the discretion of a bleeding-heart judge, those could include kidnapping, armed robbery and second-degree murder. The law is opposed by 100 of 102 Illinois state’s attorneys. 

But Gov. J.B. Pritzker thinks it’s a monument to fairness. “We do not want someone in jail for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years,” the governor intones. (He thinks people are still arrested for shoplifting?) In the Land of Lincoln, kidnapping, armed robbery and second-degree murder are all “low-level” offenses.

In November, Mr. Pritzker was elected to a second term, which would make Illinois voters criminally negligent. Perhaps he’ll reward them by tearing down prisons next.

But there’s good news too. The woman accused of trying to rob the Manhattan townhouse of Hollywood lefty loudmouth Robert De Niro was arrested on burglary charges and is being held on $40,000 bail.

Shanice Aviles had 28 prior arrests and was last in court on Oct. 11 for three counts of burglary. She was granted supervised release. In New York City, burglaries are up 23% over the same period last year. On the tony Upper East Side, where Mr. De Niro resides, they’re up 39%. The pickings are lush in the rotting apple. But Bobby D. is OK, as he informed reporters waiting outside his home. He’ll probably take the next opportunity to denounce tough-on-crime Republicans.

Maintaining civilization is hard work. You have to back up the police, punish criminals, make adolescent thugs behave, secure the border, and force those who camp and defecate in the streets to seek shelter or treatment. Our government has failed miserably at all of the above.

At the dawn of history, we made a bargain with those in power: We’ll give up, or at least allow you to regulate, our weapons and forgo vengeance if you promise to protect us from bands of ravaging barbarians.

Instead, government feeds the barbarians three squares a day. As we descend into chaos, we must ask ourselves if the government is good for anything — besides raising taxes, censorship in collusion with tech giants and promoting COVID-19 hysteria.

• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.