Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police Request National Guard Assistance

The Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte-Mecklenburg is requesting that the National Guard be deployed in the city to help them get crime under control. 

Well, that is a twist I didn’t see coming.

I didn’t see it coming, though, at least partly because murders in the City of Charlotte have become so common that 15 murders have been committed since the horrific attack on Iryna Zarutska on the Charlotte light rail on August 22nd. 42 days ago, and none have gotten the kind of attention that hers did. 

Things are worse there than I imagined. 

#BREAKING: In a letter to city leaders & the mayor, the CharMeck FOP is requesting the National Guard be sent to #Charlotte.

The FOP cites 15 homicides since the death of Iryna Zarutska.

“The current crime-fighting strategies and strained staffing are unsustainable.” @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/ffm8UkwyfF

— Hunter Sáenz (@Hunt_Saenz) October 3, 2025

Ironically, violent crime is down since last year, and no doubt local officials, who have so far not echoed the FOP’s request, will point to that statistic as proof that the National Guard is not needed. What they won’t add to that statistic is that the department is grossly understaffed and the murder rate is rising again. 15 in 42 days is quite the clip–that’s about half the number of murders in New York City in the month of September, and New York City is about 9x as large. 

Out of 10 City Council seats, only 1 is held by a Republican, virtually guaranteeing that the council will prefer having such a high murder rate rather than admit that there is a serious problem. 

Ideally, calling out the National Guard would be unnecessary and, frankly, a bad idea except in the most exceptional circumstances. And it shouldn’t take a presidential order to get them mobilized–state and local officials have the power to do so, after all. But Democrats in the 21st century don’t seem bothered by the proliferation of crime, so here we are. 

Illinois Governor Pritzker articulated the Democratic understanding of crime perfectly. 

Reporter: “This past weekend, 54 shot, 7 dead. Would you ask your friends to ride the train after midnight?”

JB Pritzker: “Look, big cities have crime. There’s no doubt about it. But let’s just pay attention to what President Trump is doing.” pic.twitter.com/zTRJFkBH7c

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 2, 2025

Crime–even a spate of murders–is the price everybody pays for living in Blue cities. Live with it. Damn that Trump for wanting to stamp it out! Whatever will criminals do for fun if he succeeds?

Deploying the National Guard will not completely solve the crime problem — human beings, after all, are fallen — but it will help quite a bit. And, contrary to the official stance of most Democrats, governments are supposed to do more than build light rail and waste oodles of money on ineffective policies that do little besides enrich nonprofits. People grudgingly tolerate having their tax dollars wasted in exchange for some level of city services. 

But that sort of governing is hard, while ribbon cuttings and funneling money to favored groups are easy and fun. 

Unfortunately, the way that city politics works means that leftists will almost always win elections. There are so many government workers for whom big government is their bread and butter that it is almost impossible to build a successful coalition to replace leftists on the city council. 

I’m not familiar with the ins and outs of Charlotte, but the only time a Democrat loses an election in Minneapolis is when a more radical candidate takes them on. The leftist ratchet is a permanent feature of machine politics in the 21st century. Crises may create an opening for a less liberal Democrat to temporarily win an election, but once crime hits a minimally tolerable level, business as usual reasserts itself. 

Think Chesa Boudin.

Charlotte is no hellhole by any means–Chicago wears the crown in that category. However, when I lived in North Carolina, it was a modestly sized city that was so attractive to people fed up with the insanity of larger Blue cities that it experienced a significant population boom. But as the people flowed in, so did the tax dollars. You know what that means–less focus on the basics, and more on doing the fun stuff. 

I doubt that Trump will activate the Guard in Charlotte, but perhaps I am wrong. What I do know is that with a modicum of prudence, the city need not have gotten to a crime crisis. 

A friend of mine–a centrist liberal, back when there were more of them–wisely said that the role of local government is to focus on “pipes, pavement, and police.” Unfortunately, such things are not sexy, and if the focus remains there, the measure of success would be a fairly unnoticeable government. Nobody cuts a ribbon to celebrate a repaired water or sewer line, after all. It’s when such things regularly fail that people notice. 

Well, they are failing now, and unfortunately, it may take intervention from outside to fix the policing problem. 

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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