Defund movement faces 'absolute rejection' as murders drop and police budgets climb: law enforcement group

Some major cities have spent recent years increasing support for their police and saw a drop in homicides, something one law enforcement group says indicates an "absolute rejection" of efforts to defund them.

Cities such as Philadelphia, Denver, Minneapolis and New York City have increased their police budgets and have seen lower homicide rates in the first quarter of 2025, compared with 2024.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association, which compiled data from Jan. 1–March 31 in 2025 and 2024, showed that several cities with increased funding for police also experienced a drop in homicides.

Philadelphia saw a 28% decrease in homicides year to date, while Minneapolis saw a 54% decrease, and Denver experienced a decrease of almost 59%.

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NYPD officers gather during a rally on May 31, 2020, in New York City. (Justin Heiman/Getty Images)

According to the New York City Police Department, there has been a 28% decrease in murders year to date.

All of these cities have something in common: Local lawmakers voted to increase police budgets in 2024, despite pressure from activists who wanted to defund the police.

City officials in Minneapolis voted to increase their police budget by 6% in 2024, according to MPR News. New York City also increased funding to its police department in 2024.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who took over the department in November 2024, said in a January op-ed for the New York Post that her focus on recidivism is helping make the city safer.

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Local lawmakers voted to increase police budgets in 2024, despite pressure from activists who wanted to defund the police. (Minneapolis Police Department/Facebook)

"Make no mistake: These crime reductions were achieved thanks to the hard work and grit of New York’s Finest – but we know that many New Yorkers don’t feel safe," Tisch said. "Their perception of public safety has become their reality, and we know why: surging recidivism. . . . The deck has been completely stacked against our cops by a shocking lack of accountability for crime."

National Police Association spokesperson Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith told Fox News Digital that the drop in murders shows that Americans are rejecting the "defund the police" movement.

"I really do believe that what we are seeing in 2025 is an absolute rejection of the ‘defund the police movement,’ the ‘re-imagining police movement.’ The law enforcement profession always has room for reform. There is always room for change, but this whole cloth 'let's eliminate the police by defunding them' didn't work. People died because of it, and now the American public is wholeheartedly rejecting it," Smith said.  "And the American law enforcement officer sees that."

Smith said it shouldn't be a shock that "more police work equals less crime."

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The Major Cities Chiefs Association showed that several cities with increased funding for police also experienced a drop in homicides. (Fox News )

"Obviously, this is something that we have been talking about for the last five years. And we have, you know, we have been trying to explain to the American public that you do need law enforcement, and when you need law enforcement, law enforcement needs resources. And finally, I think the public, the politicians, the media are catching up with that idea," she said.