TX Governor Makes It Official: 'We're Going to Defund' Cities That Defund Police
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is done allowing progressive cities to self-immolate via efforts to defund the police.
In an interview with Fox News, Abbott responded to a recent shooting in Austin by matter-of-factly stating, “We are going to defund the city.”
Earlier this week, Austin police took approximately 13 minutes to respond to a report of a man being shot in the head, according to KXAN.
The reason for the delay? The police department is “in dire straits on staffing,” according to Austin Police Association president Ken Casaday.
Austin voted to defund its police department by $150 million last year.
Abbot compared the recent tragedy to the skyrocketing homicide rates in cities such as Portland, New York and Los Angeles, where diminished police forces have struggled against a rising tide of violent crime.
“Unfortunately, we had the same thing happen here in the state of Texas, where the city of Austin defunded police,” Abbott told Fox News. “Which is why you saw that tragic situation reported in Austin, Texas.”
“This is what defunding the police looks like,” Abbott said of the situation on Twitter.
This is what defunding the police looks like.
Austin is incapable of timely responding to a victim shot in the head.
Texas won’t tolerate this.
We’re about to pass a law-that I will sign-that will prevent cities from defunding police.
Sanity & safety will return. https://t.co/UtQVoUXzBL
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 24, 2021
Abbott also vowed to sign House Bill 1900 into law.
The bill effectively prevents cities from defunding municipal police agencies by drying up resources.
This would be done by prohibiting cities that defund police from annexing more territory, allowing residents of those cities to disannex themselves and ensuring that the cities pay for any state police assistance they require in order to shore up their law enforcement.
“Because Austin defunded police, we wanted to do two things in this session,” Abbott said.
“One, we wanted to make sure that there were going to be consequences for the city of Austin. The second is we wanted to make sure that no other city in the state of Texas would defund police.”
Abbott’s vision is setting him apart as a leader of the GOP.
If a progressive city chooses to place its citizens in danger by defunding the police, it should be cut off from the hand that feeds it. Plain and simple.
As for citizens freely disannexing themselves from such cities, Abbott said that citizens should have the right to choose to leave cities that take and take and give nothing in return.
“A LOT of residents in the City of Austin will soon have the chance to de-annex from their over-taxing, over-regulating, do-nothing-about-the-homeless city,” Abbott tweeted.
A LOT of residents in the City of Austin will soon have the chance to de-annex from their over-taxing, over-regulating, do-nothing-about-the-homeless city.
One of the penalties on cities like Austin that defund police is that residents who’ve been annexed can choose to leave. https://t.co/AaKpATWiMy
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 25, 2021
There are, no doubt, times when police budgets need to be negotiated. But there is rarely, if ever, cause to defund municipal police departments outright.
On this note, Abbott could not have been more clear.
“In Texas, we don’t defund or disrespect our police,” he tweeted.
In Texas, we don’t defund or disrespect our police.
We ALWAYS #BacktheBlue.
Which is why I made legislation preventing cities from defunding the police an emergency item this session.
I look forward to signing it soon.
Thank you #txlege.https://t.co/LfZSiAAIyh
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 24, 2021
It has been a crazy year for all of us. But it has been a downright dangerous one for police officers across the nation. They deserve our support, and they earn it daily.
We ought to encourage our leaders to follow Abbott’s example and back the men and women in blue.
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