MSNBC contributor: Recent New York City crime wave 'is actually the fault of the police'

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Reporters and activists rushing to judge Florida Pride parade crash before investigation, The Washington Post getting knocked for painting Biden as 'deeply Catholic,' and CNN getting shredded for misleading headline on GA voter roll purge round out today's top media headlines

MSNBC contributor Brittany Packnett Cunningham argued Monday that rising crime in New York City is not the fault of the Defund the Police movement but rather the police themselves.

"This rise in crime is not the fault of the movement," said Cunningham, a former member of President Barack Obama's 21st Century Policing Task Force. "It's actually the fault of the police."

"Why should we keep funding systems and institutions that keep rendering themselves ineffective?" she asked.

To "ensure truly safe streets," Cunningham suggested further discussion of gun control, livable wages, fair housing, and education.

Cunningham argued that defunding the police is not just about taking money from an institution that "continues to prove ineffective." It's also, she said, about "refunding the people." 

EVOLUTION OF THE ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ MOVEMENT: HOW HAS IT CHANGED?

"I think that there are a lot of police unions and GOP operatives that would like for us to believe that this recent crime wave has everything to do with defunding the police. But guess what, Stephanie, the police haven't been defunded," she said, citing a report that law enforcement spending in the 50 largest U.S. cities as a share of municipal expenditures slightly rose for 2021. That same Bloomberg report also noted those cities "reduced their 2021 police budgets by 5.2% in aggregate."

As host Stephanie Ruhle noted at the top of the segment, crime is a top issue for New York City voters ahead of Tuesday's mayoral primary. The city has experienced a rise in hate crimes, subway assaults and shootings, according to reports. The crime wave dominated last week's debate among the Democratic hopefuls and the New York Post predicted the deadly statistics will prove devastating to the more progressive candidates.

"When crime is high, New Yorkers only care about crime, and they don’t care about much else," the Post wrote.

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The Defund the Police movement has appeared to lose steam since 2020. Law enforcement analysts told Fox News that phenomenon may have something to do with proponents realizing that defunding or reforming police departments will take time, money, and carefully crafted strategies. Cutting police department budgets also consistently polls unpopularly.