La’Ron Singletary, a former police chief from Rochester, New York, and former Democrat, said the party left him.
During an appearance on Fox News Monday, host Brian Kilmeade asked Singletary what made him want to run for Congress as a Republican.
“It’s about politicians who decided to put politics over people, and it’s just wrong,” Singletary said.
He added, “Like Ronald Reagan said, I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left La’Ron Singletary. And for me, it’s about wanting to serve people, meet people where they are, and leave them in a better spot.”
Turning to the issues, Singletary suggested public safety is something voters really value.
He pointed out police officers are leaving the force in “record numbers” because they do not feel supported.
“The last two years, the Democratic Party has been trying to rid policies that have been disproportionately impacting the African-American community and Hispanics. And defund the police has done just that,” Singletary said.
He added, “It makes no sense whatsoever. Defunding the police is like removing the wood from the bottom of your boat to fix your deck. It makes no sense.”
Watch his comments below:
'The Democratic party left me': @LaRonSingletary announces his congressional run, as he promises to refund cops. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/w4P1P10SbM
— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) April 25, 2022
Not only are police officers feeling unsupported by some politicians, violence against officers has been on the rise, as IJR reported.
FBI Director Christopher Wray reported in 2021 officers were “being killed at a rate of almost one every five days.”
“Violence against law enforcement in this country is one of the biggest phenomena that I think doesn’t get enough attention,” Wray said during a Sunday interview with “60 Minutes.”
He explained, “Some of it is tied to the violent crime problem as a whole. But one of the phenomena that we saw in the last year is that an alarming percentage of the 73 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty last year were killed through things like being ambushed or shot while out on patrol. … Wearing the badge shouldn’t make you a target.”
