Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responded to a Sunday article in Daily Mail that detailed the large number of cops ditching California for the pastures of Texas, which might not be greener but are certainly more friendly to law enforcement. Morale is low among peace officers in the Golden State as soft-on-crime woke district attorneys like LA’s George Gascón and Alameda County’s Pamela Price, along with criminal-loving measures like Proposition 47, make them feel undermined and unwelcome.
Thousands of them are getting out of Dodge, the outlet reported:
…the Golden State is hemorrhaging thousands of police every year, with numbers down by more than 5,000 since 2019.
There are now fears that high-crime Californian cities are suffering a brain drain in law enforcement, leaving the public unprotected as criminals run riot.
Ray Bottenfield, a former Santa Monica College Police Captain who retired to Hewitt, Texas, admitted it had become increasingly difficult to retain or recruit officers due to the lack of support from the state.
Many of them are headed to the Lone Star State, but Abbott has a warning for them: Never forget that from which you have fled.
Hundreds of cops flee California to Texas blaming CA's soft on crime policies.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 13, 2024
Welcome to Texas. We support our Law Enforcement officers & demand law & order.
But never forget the leftist policies that you fled and always vote the right way.https://t.co/UW8POPerqV
“But never forget the leftist policies that you fled,” Abbott admonishes. I’m guessing that most law enforcement personnel won’t—but the message to civilians should be the same. All too often we’ve seen Californians and other blue-staters exit the chaos they’ve helped create only to continue voting for the same progressive policies in their new state and try to bring it to ruin as well.
The article that caught Abbott’s attention points out that law enforcement simply does not feel supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state legislature, or even local officials. Many feel their job is simply “pointless”:
Hundreds of California cops are fleeing to Texas to escape 'soft-on-crime' policies they say have made their jobs 'pointless', DailyMail.com can reveal.
Rank-and-file officers up to department chiefs have hit out at state legislators, claiming a succession of 'anti-law enforcement' policies have made their work impossible.
Overworked and unsupported, they have instead taken up jobs in Texas [and Montana and Arizona] and other states that are seen as tough on crime.
All one has to do is look at a few recent headlines to get a sense of the lawlessness that seems to have taken over much of California. I don’t even have room to list the flash mob takeover of a 7-Eleven or the Samurai sword-wielding homeless person harassing a local restaurant, but here’s a taste:
Blue state policies at work:
LA Story: Officers Spend 3,000 Hours Trying to Stop Graffiti at Abandoned Towers—but It's Not Enough
California Chaos: Mob Uses Kia to Smash Through Bakery Door, Steals Everything, Destroys the Place
WATCH: Armed LA Homeowner Thwarts Gunmen in Wild Shootout, Roasts Woke DA George Gascón
It’s true that murders and some violent crime rates have gone down recently in the nation's most highly-populated state—which Newsom and cronies love to tout—but they ignore the fact that property and other quality-of-life crimes have shot through the roof. You can’t even ride the LA Metro without taking your life into your own hands, for instance. (I haven’t even gotten around to mentioning the true Sin City, San Francisco).
This just happened tonight
— Make L.A Great Again 🇺🇸 (@lalovestrump) May 14, 2024
Great to hear @KarenBassLA is encouraging kids to ride la metro
Keeping the youths safe in L.A … pic.twitter.com/P6ydhjs8IB
Judging by their actions, California and other blue-state criminals seem to feel that they’re free to just do what they want.
Abbott is right to warn those fleeing the state that they need to leave their past voting patterns at the border—because some of those leaving are the very people who helped bring about this chaos in the first place.
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