This year, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, has sought greater funds for programs targeting gun violence, which he said is a national problem. The city, a center of defund police efforts, trimmed its police budget last year by less than 4%, far short of the $50 million in cuts sought by activists. ThatвЂ™s lower than the 800% increase claimed by the Fraternal Order of Police, which said it was based on homicides through May 25. In Portland, homicides were up from six in the first five months of 2020 to 38 in the first five months of 2021, according to city police data, a more than 530% increase. In February, they approved $6.4 million to hire new police officers after an unprecedented number of officers retired or went on extended medical leave following FloydвЂ™s killing. Last year in Minneapolis, city officials shifted $8 million - less than 5% of the police budget - to programs focused on community mental health and violence prevention. Killings have been on the rise since 2020, but the numbers donвЂ™t tell the whole story about reductions in police spending or a troubling increase in homicides being seen throughout the country. вЂњThe crime rate is going up by 50, 60, 100%, 131% in one city.вЂќ вЂњLook at whatвЂ™s happening where theyвЂ™re defunding the police,вЂќ former President Donald Trump said Saturday at the North Carolina GOP convention, echoing an argument he made on the campaign trail last year. Top Republicans have taken up the claim, too. In Minneapolis, homicides were up by 56% in Portland, 800%. The numbers in it were alarming: Homicides in Chicago, up by 22% through late May compared with the same period last year. вЂњThe leadership in all of these cities turned the keys over to the вЂDefund the PoliceвЂ™ mob,вЂќ the post read. Late last month, the National Fraternal Order of Police posted a graphic on social media showing big increases in the homicide rate in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon - all cities currently led by Democrats. вЂњ2020 was just a crazy complicated year where lots of things happened, and there are lots of potential explanations for why we saw these big changes,вЂќ said David Abrams, a University of Pennsylvania Law School professor, who tracks crime rates and is studying the impact of the pandemic. Just as it did half a century ago, the argument ignores the complicated reasons for fluctuations in crime rates - a list that today includes the upheaval wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and protests that erupted after the killing of George Floyd by police. The effort to blame Democrats for crime may offer a preview of RepublicansвЂ™ strategy for upcoming elections: a new twist on an old вЂњlaw and orderвЂќ argument from the partyвЂ™s past, harkening back to President Richard Nixon.

Nyc crime rates chart