additional funding in next year s budget. the head of the national sheriffs association said much more is needed. 300 million across the country would equal about $18,000 perjure is jurisdiction. last month the department of justice announced $139 million to hire nearly 1100 local law enforcement personnel now. i m told hiring is already underway. harris. harris: david spunt reporting from washington to give us that federal level view of all of this. in focus now two law enforcement veterans james smallwood, national fraternal order of police treasurer you are and the president of the san francisco police officer s guild. james, your initial reaction to what the feds are doing at this point?
it is unacceptable and we aren t taking the problem seriously. we need to reverse course and focus on holding folks accountable and law and order priorities. if your legislators aren t holding those priorities at the top of their list, vote them out. harris: i don t know how the white house and others cannot hear this. just to give voice to what you are saying it would at least help. james and mike, so important to have you part of this conversation today. thank you for being in focus. thank you. harris: crime spiraling out of control. this is not just about the edges of the country. as you are seeing we re talking to real people on the ground. we aren t hitting the celebrities and all that. they now can tell you about robberies and home invasions and what not happening in their neighborhoods. this is happening in the center of the country, too. i mention mostly 100% democrat led cities. chicago, the city facing their highest murder rate in decades. top 12 cities all led by
being robbed. that is critical, critical time. and as we look at those numbers they all represent people. james, how do we get beyond this point? absolutely. you know, harris, you have hit the nail on the head. we have folks calling police when seconds matter and we re taking minutes and sometimes hours to get there. it is completely unacceptable. when we look at cities like austin, portland, seattle struggling with the defunding movement where politics has taken over instead of focusing on what s important, the people that they serve, we are looking at numbers of response times increasing and we are having a shortfall in officers. as we continue to villainize the law enforcement profession and prioritize criminals we ll see that number continue to spike and response times and see violent crime and homicides in chicago and new york and los angeles spike between 40 to 60% so far this year.