On Wednesday morning's New Day, CNN viewers got an unusual dose of reality on the true causes of the recent crime surge as former Capitol Hill police officer Michael Fanone -- now a CNN law enforcement analyst -- actually implicated the media and the decriminalization of crime by liberal leaders.
This contrasts with the liberal network's history of making lame attempts to blame the pandemic and guns -- even though other countries have also had a pandemic without such crime increases, and there has been little change in gun laws.
Fanone -- who was assaulted during the 1/6 Capitol Hill riots -- has notably been a frequent guest on the network in the past year as CNN has been fixated on the violent protests by right-wing activists.
Correspondent Brynn Gingras filed a report recalling that homicides increased 29 percent in 2020, and an additional seven percent in 2021, as she also informed viewers about three high-profile murders that have occurred recently -- the stabbing of a UCLA student in Los Angeles, an attack on a nurse at a bus stop in Los Angeles, and the pushing of a woman in front of a subway train in New York -- none of which involved guns.
Co-host John Berman and fill-in co-host Kasie Hunt brought on Fanone and asked for his reaction. Referring back to the crime surge that began after the Mike Brown shooting in 2014, the former cop recalled that the crime wave actually started several years ago. He soon tied in the media among other culprits:
You know, when I look at the causes of that, I guess the police officer inside of me immediately would point to a decrease in proactive policing. You know, whether that's because police officers are prevented from doing so by new legislation, departmental policies, a lack of confidence and training in their leadership, fear of assassination or indifference to the job which resulted from years of intense scrutiny and angry rhetoric directed at them by members of the media, the public and politicians.
He then complained about prosecutors refusing to enforce too many laws:
I'd also point to state and district prosecutors who've decided to publicly decriminalize crimes that they deemed as minor infractions. That's created an environment that -- where individuals that are committing these crimes feel emboldened. And I think in doing so, you marginalize the victims and place police officers whose job it is to keep communities safe and who must answer to those community members in an incredibly difficult position.
Fanone soon tied in the media again:
In the last five or so years, I've seen serious failures on the part of the media, elected leaders, and judges, state and federal prosecutors, police departments, police officers, community activists and community members. I never experienced a level of distrust, misrepresentation and violent rhetoric exchanged by and between members of those groups.
He went on to complain about the harm it causes when shoplifters are allowed to victimize convenience stores as has been happening frequently in California. At no point did the veteran cop mention guns or the pandemic as he listed a number of factors.
Fanone is correct about the problem of crime getting out of control dating back several years. In 2014, after several years of decline, homicides began jumping upwards again after journalists and other liberals started spending so much time fixated on second-guessing police officers and portraying them as racists. In fact, in 2020, according to the FBI, the number of homicides was more than 52 percent higher than it was in 2014 -- from 14,164 to 21,570.
It is also noteworthy that, while homicides are substantially higher than two years ago, the number of criminal suspects killed by police officers dropped in 2021 to 888 (it's typically around 990 a year), perhaps a symptom of police officers being less proactive in enforcing the law.
This episode of CNN's New Day was sponsored in part by Ancestry and IHOP. Their contact information is linked. Let them know you appreciate finally seeing an analyst tell the struth about what causes crime on the liberal news network.
Transcript follows:
CNN's New Day
January 19, 2022
7:28 a.m. Eastern
MICHAEL FANONE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Clearly there has been a significant increase in crime. I mean, as a police officer, I witnessed it not just in this past year, the year before, but in the last four or five years leading up to 2022, we've seen like a staggering increase in both property and violent crimes. You know, when I look at the causes of that, I guess the police officer inside of me immediately would point to a decrease in proactive policing. You know, whether that's because police officers are prevented from doing so by new legislation, departmental policies, a lack of confidence and training in their leadership, fear of assassination or indifference to the job which resulted from years of intense scrutiny and angry rhetoric directed at them by members of the media, the public and politicians.
I'd also point to state and district prosecutors who've decided to publicly decriminalize crimes that they deemed as minor infractions. That's created an environment that -- where individuals that are committing these crimes feel emboldened. And I think in doing so, you marginalize the victims and place police officers whose job it is to keep communities safe and who must answer to those community members in an incredibly difficult position.
Our criminal justice system relies on the idea of accountability, and without accountability, you get what many areas are experiencing today. But all that being said, I really attribute the rise in crime in the U.S. to our inability to engage in an honest discussion about policing and criminal justice reform. In the last five or so years, I've seen serious failures on the part of the media, elected leaders, and judges, state and federal prosecutors, police departments, police officers, community activists and community members. I never experienced a level of distrust, misrepresentation and violent rhetoric exchanged by and between members of those groups.
(...)
I understand district and state prosecutors and their ideas surrounding not prosecuting minor crimes, decriminalizing certain offenses, but telegraphing that to criminals is not a good idea. You're emboldening them. And you're marginalizing the victims of those crimes. You know, when I was a police officer, last thing I ever wanted to do was arrest somebody for, you know, petty theft from a bodega. But think about the owner of that bodega and if, you know, people are allowed to continue to steal, that's going to hurt him or her significantly. So there, you know, I think that these prosecutors need to weigh cases on an individual basis, not make blanket statements allowing for people to commit crimes and not be held to account.
