Defund the Police movement sparked nationwide crime spree, say retired chiefs

Law enforcement veterans say that that the “defund the police” movement led to the short-staffing, burnout and low morale among officers that led to surging crime in major cities.

Retired Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead told Fox News Digital that morale within police departments is the lowest in the 30 years he has been in the profession.

"I talk to law enforcement leaders on a daily basis. And in today’s world, their No. 1 problem is staffing," Halstead explained.

"And what you hear is the same drum being beaten: How are we going get ourselves through this? And what steps are we going to take to get our staffing back?"

Forces are spread thin because of these staffing issues, which hurts response times, added Halstead. He said many departments are struggling to hit the national response target of five minutes for priority calls when they could easily before.

“It's been the national goal for decades. And the majority of major city police departments were accomplishing that goal within three and a half to about four minutes and 45 seconds," Halstead said.

"Today, I don't know of any of them that are aggressively meeting that national standard."

Jeff Rasche, a retired police chief with nearly four decades of experience in Indiana, said staffing shortages meant officers did not have enough time for training or to recharge – both of which are highly important to better serve their communities.

"They need to recharge to come back so that they are 100% when they put that badge back on their chest and come back to work,” Rasche told Fox News Digital.

Halstead points to two primary reasons behind low morale – officers feel their profession has been demonized, and they are concerned about being indicted criminally. He blamed a “silent majority” for driving a negative narrative of police officers, adding that community leaders are implementing radical measures at odds with what citizens actually want.

Rasche says that those concerned citizens are beginning to push back.

"It's glaring today in these communities where they're trying to do things that have never been done before that they are obviously not working," Rasche said.

"And I think that you're starting to see the public step up and say, 'Look, we're not going to take this anymore. We're not ... going to live in a crime-ridden community. We are going to support the police. We want the police funded, and we are going to be there for police to support them because we need them.'"