Washington Times: Defund Police Cries Defy The Public's Trust, Support Of Police

David Sherfinski and S.A. Miller at the Washington Times offers a piece on a study that shows most people trust and support the police.

Calls to defund the police because of brutality and racism don’t match the experiences of most Americans when they call law enforcement for help, according to the most recent comprehensive national data collected by the Justice Department.

The overwhelming share of U.S. residents who in the past several years initiated contact with the police to request assistance said they were satisfied with the interaction, and a clear majority said the police improved the situation.

Among the millions of people who call police for help, whether for a mental health crisis, domestic violence incident or other emergency, an estimated 83% said they were satisfied with the police response and 59% said the police improved the situation, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Police-Public Contact Survey. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jun/9/police-responses-satisfy-most-americans-despite-de/ 

Trump Promises Action On Gun Violence After Two Mass Shootings - 'This Is Mental Health Illness'

Dave Boyer and David Sherfinski at the Washington Times offers a piece on President Trump’s reaction to the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

President Trump said Sunday he will announce steps to stop gun violence, as top Democrats raced to blame him for fomenting two mass shootings this weekend in Texas and Ohio with a toxic stew of violence and white nationalism, and pressed him for quick action on gun control.

After conferring Sunday with Attorney General William Barr, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, state officials and lawmakers, the president said he will outline his proposals around 10 a.m. Monday.

“We’re going to take care of it,” Mr. Trump told reporters in New Jersey before returning to Washington. “A lot of things are in the works. I’ve spoken to members of Congress about whatever we can do, and a lot of things are being done right now as we speak.”

He suggested that part of his approach will focus on mental health laws and gun ownership.

“This is also a mental illness problem,” Mr. Trump said. “If you look at both of these cases, this is mental illness. These are really people that are very, very seriously mentally ill.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/4/trump-addresses-mass-shootings-proposals-address-m/

Smuggling By International Crime Syndicates Is What Keeps Homeland Security Chief Up At Night

David Sherfinski and Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times offer a piece on Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly (seen in the above official photo) and his concern over transnational criminal organizations.

Smuggling cartels are now a major threat to the fabric of American society, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly declared Tuesday, saying the international crime syndicates have shown an incredible ability to sneak drugs and people — and potentially terrorists and dirty bombs — into the U.S.

Mr. Kelly, a former Marine Corps general who is three months into his tenure as secretary, said among all the other dangers facing Americans, the threat from the cartels, known in the security world as “transnational criminal organizations” is what keeps him up at night.

He said the Trump administration has already notched some victories over the criminal networks, including cutting the level of illegal immigration across the southwestern border by a staggering 70 percent. But he said the amount of drugs has increased and that the smuggling cartels share ties with the terrorist networks that the U.S. is fighting overseas.

“We know, as an example, that the money-laundering of massive amounts of profit from the U.S. drug demand — there are terrorist organizations that make money from that money-laundering process,” he said. “It’s an incredibly lucrative way to raise money. They’re not doing it in huge amounts yet, I don’t believe. But to me, it would be a next step. So the nexus between criminal networks and terrorist networks is real, and, I would predict, will get more sophisticated.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/18/john-kelly-smuggling-cartels-major-threat/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpWaVptVmlZams0TkRabCIsInQiOiJOc1VSdkl4UUJjcWJcL0E4WWNTSWxWT0ErUkdIcHo0cDJmUUEwRUtIblwvNmpoek5TQWV6WHpER2c0ZXI0Q2JZOXN5Ulg4UmtvU0k1NnMzQWp0WG1ZeGEwTEtPbFVFTFNraGlwMEdLKysxT0hhbFFXdjQzOEtwcE44djJuRnpHM0lHIn0%3D 

National Security And Terrorism Should Be Top Priority, GOP Voters Say

David Sherfinski at the Washington Times reports on a poll that finds that most Rebublican voters believe national security should be our top priority.

National security and terrorism should be the top priority for the federal government, according to Republican voters — a dramatic turnaround from this time in the 2012 cycle, when that issue was a distant third to jobs and the economy and the deficit among GOP voters.

Twenty-seven percent of GOP primary voters said the top priority for the federal government should be addressing national security and terrorism, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. The deficit and government spending were No. 2 at 24 percent, followed by job creation and economic growth at 21 percent, religious and moral values at 12 percent, and immigration at 8 percent.

Combining GOP voters’ first and second choices, national security and terrorism still won out with 53 percent, with the deficit/government spending and job creation/economic growth at 42 percent apiece, immigration at 26 percent, religious and moral values at 17 percent, and health care at 13 percent.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/5/national-security-and-terrorism-should-be-top-prio/

Police Deaths Soar 24% In 2014 With Ambush Attacks Leading Cause

David Sherfinski at the Washington Times reports on the increased number of police deaths in 2014.

Law enforcement fatalities in the United States increased 24 percent in 2014 to 126, and ambush-style attacks were the No. 1 cause of felonious officer deaths for the fifth straight year, according to preliminary data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The memorial fund report said 126 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty this year, compared to 102 last year. The number of officers killed by firearms in 2014 — 50 — is up 56 percent from the 32 killed last year.

... Fifteen officers nationwide were killed in ambush assaults in 2014, a figure that matched 2012 for the highest since 1995. Among those recorded this year were the recent shooting deaths of New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, which attracted national attention and contributed to tension between police and the city’s elected leaders.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/30/police-fatalities-24-percent-2014-report/