Do you feel safe walking down the street at night in LA, San Francisco, San Diego or in your own neighborhood? If your answer is no, you're not alone — and you would have good reason to be more worried over crime than ever, according to new FBI crime statistics.
According to the most recent report by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on crime rates in 2022, while nationwide crime has gone down, California's crime rate is consistently spiking and went up in 2022 by a staggering 13%.
Carl DeMaio, chairman of the political action committee Reform California — which has a campaign dedicated to restoring public safety in California — says that the rising crime in California should come as no shock.
"California's liberal politicians are more interested in putting criminals back out on the street and keeping the police from doing their jobs than they are in deterring crime and protecting Californians," said DeMaio.
"These politicians are doubling down on crazy policies that incentivize crime instead of trying to give tools to law enforcement to combat the crime wave we are facing,” he continued.
DeMaio points to the passage of Proposition 47 and Proposition 57 in California as key drivers of the increase in crime over recent years. Advocates argued that these propositions would reduce the prison population and strain on the system, but DeMaio says that in actuality the propositions tied the hands of law enforcement to crack down on crime and reduced many penalties to simple slaps on the wrist — emboldening criminals and causing repeat offenses.
"Letting criminals back out onto the street has only made our communities less safe, and these new crime statistics prove that California's policies are the cause and are an abject failure," said DeMaio. "But the liberal media in California is doing everything they can to cover for Democrat politicians and convince you not to believe your lying eyes."
DeMaio points to recent articles by the LA Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune which try to frame the increase in crime as a perception problem, rather than rooted in facts and statistics. The LA Times article is titled “Crime is down but fear is up: Why is LA still perceived as dangerous?”
DeMaio highlights how the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times are spreading radically inaccurate information and forming ineffectual task groups that are doing nothing to halt the current crime wave we are experiencing.
"This is a perfect example of how the liberal media will peddle false information to the masses in order to support the Left's agenda," explained DeMaio.
That's why DeMaio and Reform California are working hard to get this information out to key voters in California and to educate the public. Reform California is also running a campaign to restore public safety by repealing Props 47 and 57, which are key drivers of the surge in crime. Join the campaign to restore public safety in California at restorepublicsaftey.org.