A new report has found that despite calls to "defund the police," spending on law enforcement has risen, even though some in the field say the sentiment is still causing "consequences."
The report from ABC News found that nationwide, those on the upcoming ballot are saying that the nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer are to blame for the recent rise in crime.
But, the report found that while numerous politicians have begun repeating the accusations before Election Day, many communities didn't see any defunding.
The budgets of more than 100 cities and counties were examined for the report, and ABC News says that 83% of them spent at least 2% more on police in 2022 than in 2019.
In total, 109 budgets were used for the report, and only eight agencies were found to have cut police funds by more than 2%.
On the flip side, 91 budgets showed law enforcement funding go up by at least 2%, and 49 cities or countries saw funding rise by more than 10%.
The report also noted that an analysis of broadcast transcripts showed candidates, law enforcement leaders, and television hosts discussing the impact of "defunding the police" more than 10,000 times since 2020.
A sociologist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Dr. Rashawn Ray, shared with ABC that the narrative has continued to be used and spread because of the constant repetition by public officials.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is one public official who has constantly shared this sentiment.
In August, he said that in communities across the country, like "in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago," and "so many other places," there has been an outbreak in crime. He continued the sentiment, saying there is one reason for the outburst.
"You typically see where these crimes are taking place, there has been a de-emphasis of the role that law enforcement plays. It could be defunding law enforcement. It could be a reduction in law enforcement," Abbott said.
But Ray says this isn't the case.
"Overwhelmingly, cities, counties, police departments across the country are not being defunded in any way," Ray said. "In fact, many of them have increased their budgets. Part of the reason why the 'defund the police' narrative has stayed around is because police officers say it and elected officials say it."
Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago are among the major cities that have seen police budgets increase. For example, the LAPD has had a budget increase of 9.4% since 2019; in San Francisco, there has been an increase of 4%; in Philadelphia, it went up 3%; and in Chicago, police spending is up 15%.
Many in the Republican Party have also pointed across the aisle regarding defunding efforts, but Democrats have also said that defunding the police isn't the way.
"The answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police. Fund them!" President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union Address.
The report shared that some cities did make efforts to reallocate police spending after the George Floyd protests, but most cuts only lasted one year, like in Austin, Texas.
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