The murder rate in large U.S. cities is dropping sharply, reports the Wall Street Journal, after spiking with the Covid pandemic. Dallas, Baltimore, Phoenix, Detroit, Las Vegas and Washington, DC posted 20% drops, typical of a trend with some big outliers. Boston has suffered only two homicides so far this year, an 82% drop.
Philadelphia saw a 35% drop in killings as of April 12 compared with the same period last year, police data show. In New York City, homicides fell 15% through April 7. Homicides in Columbus, Ohio, plunged 58% through April 7.
The WSJ goes to some efforts to convince its readers that all this proves police are fantastic and we need more of them, but the murder rate is in freefall irrespective of local policing. New Orleans doesn't have so many cops now and isn't able to hire them, for example, yet posted a 38% drop in homicides.
Indeed, odds are good we're going to have a summer of pundit panic about how the falling crime rate is bad for America and for Joe Biden's chances of reëlection. "Millenials are killing killing—and keeping cops out of work"
