Journalist Zaid Jilani told Hill.TV that a reduction in policing is one of several factors that contributed to last year’s 30 percent increase in homicides.
During an interview on Hill.TV’s “Rising,” Jilani discussed the results of the 2020 FBI Uniform Crime Report, which found that while overall crime last year decreased 6 percent from 2019, homicides and violent crime rose 30 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
Lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, Jilani said, are not likely to blame for the increase in homicides and violent crime. Instead, he argued that “a lot of space” has been opened up for criminals because police are “pulling back.”
“The question is: How can you have that accountability and the reduction of abuses, but not see the blanket cutting back in policing? Because that does open up space for violence,” he said. “You want police accountability, you want them to change their behavior when there’s abuses, but you don’t really want a blunt response, like police just pulling back altogether.”
Jilani said that while “legitimate unconstitutional practices” in policing should be addressed, the answer is not to reduce policing.
“If any other sector of the economy stopped doing their job, we would see disaster,” he said. “And I think the same thing happens with policing unfortunately.”
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