DC Police Union chief blames 'defund the police movement' on 'Fox & Friends' as officers shot in standoff

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Co-host Lawrence Jones interviewed the head of DC Police Union Greg Pemberton on the February 15 episode of 'Fox & Friends' to get to know the city's efforts to tackle the increase in violent crimes in the capital.

The interaction took place in the wake of three officers being injured in a standoff-turned-shootout incident the previous day.

Gregg Pemberton slams City Council over liberal crime policies

"The City Council here has passed a number of pro-criminal, anti-police pieces of legislation, particularly the Comprehensive Policing Justice Reform Act, which has completely hamstrung police officers and made it absolutely impossible for them to do their jobs and protected criminals and prevents us from actually holding them accountable, even for the most heinous crimes," shared Pemberton.

"The results of this defund the police movement is rampant crime and bedlam and mayhem everywhere in these major cities."

Pemberton told Jones of the staffing shortages, as the district faces a 39% increase in violent crime and a 24% increase in property crime in 2023 compared to 2022, according to Fox News.

"We're short 500 police officers in what should be a 4,000-member agency. That's over 15% of our agency," he mentioned.

"Until people like our legislators here in the City Council wake up and start acting like adults and start to repeal some of these ideas they had in 2020, I don't think we're going to see these numbers change."

Pemberton added that the officials should "stop listening to activists" for the situation to improve.

"Stop listening to people who tell you to defund the police. Start listening to citizens, victims, and police officers and figure out what we need to do our jobs."

Who was responsible for shooting police officers?

Julius James, 46, of Southeast, DC, was identified as the suspect in the shooting of 3 police officers by the Metropolitan Police Department. He reportedly surrendered after several hours of negotiation.

Police Chief Pamela Smith stated that the incident took place when officers arrived at a residence in the 5000 block of Hanna Place around 7.30 am to serve an arrest warrant for cruelty to animals. While attempting to enter the premises, they were met with gunfire through the door.

The barricade situation went on for almost 13 hours. The injured officers suffered non-threatening gunshot wounds and were treated at a nearby hospital.