Last week, ten Democratic Socialists of America members won primaries for Congress or the state legislature in New York. Most called for abolishing ICE and many for “defunding the police.”

That’s become a major theme of the Democratic Socialists who are winning elections in major cities.

Nearly every major city has a shortage of police officers.

Most budget cuts made at the height of the “defund the police” movement have been restored, but over 70% of cities report police recruitment and retention is harder even with big signing bonuses. Los Angeles is at a 30-year low in uniformed officers and Washington D.C. is at a 50-year low.

Big causes are burnout, bureaucracy and the demoralization of officers tired of attacks on police work as ignoble.

In Phoenix, the police department has 650 vacancies. When people fill them, they often don’t stay – 30% of new recruits from 2023 to 2025 have already left.

The city can’t offer higher salaries to boost its retention rate because one-third of its police budget is spent funding future pensions for officers already on the force. Politically powerful police unions often block management reforms.

The good news is that crime rates are stable or trending down in many places. But that may not last. Response times are down, some cities have curtailed services and there’s evidence a growing number of people no longer report crimes out of a belief nothing will be done.

This apathy may also explain why fewer Americans are voting in local elections. In New York City, less than 10% of the 5.36 million registered voters turned out last Tuesday. In big cities, low voter turnout is handing elections to the dangerous radicals.