BREAKING NEWS – Los Angeles, California – The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted Thursday to boost its contracts with law enforcement by $36 million through the end of this year amid a spike in crime across the city.
The move will increase funding from $645,675,758 to $681,675,758. The contracts are with the LAPD, the LA County Sheriff’s Department, and the Long Beach Police Department.
The city recorded 39 homicides in January, a 34% increase over the same time last year, according to Crosstown, a non-profit news outlet based out of the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.
The continuing rise comes after a particularly violent 2020, when the city saw 350 homicides, which is 36% more than in 2019, Crosstown reports.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seemed to be unimpressed with the numbers. “Those stats don’t mean a thing to me,” she explained. “I want the police defunded, no matter how matter many people get bumped off throughout the year. I also hope that I live to see the day when the cops don’t pursue violent criminals who are in this country illegally. Why pursue a killer who is not suppose to be here? Sending him back is wrong because we are giving his country of origin a citizen that they clearly don’t want, and the U.S. should not be doing something like that because it would offend our southern neighbors.”