City Councilman Garrett Dennis made a half-hearted attempt Monday to defund the police in Jacksonville, to no avail.
He announced his intent to hold half the $484 million police budget hostage.
It got a swift, negative response from the head of the police union and others.
Finance Committee Chairman Matt Carlucci immediately tweeted:
“There will be NO DEFUNDING the sheriff’s budget. Will not happen. The finance committee passed the JSO budget as a whole and I will fight hard to keep it like that. At the same time working hard for MORE prevention & intervention funding! No pitting these 2 against each other.”
Dennis normally is level-headed and many were puzzled by his last-minute stance just before the budget for the coming fiscal year was to be approved.
Defunding the police is a tactic being used in other areas by the radical left element that is promoting rioting and anarchy.
Dennis denied that he was proposing defunding, saying it was about “accountability and transparency,” which everyone realized was nonsense.
A spokesmen for Mayor Lenny Curry said, “Make no mistake, this is an attempt to defund men and women in uniform. If this comes to fruition, Mayor Curry would be forced to strongly consider vetoing the 2021 budget.”
In Minneapolis, far-left politicians slashed police funding and even voted to dismantle the department. When, inevitably, crime soared, the clueless politicians demanded to know why.
