Chicago’s mayor recently told the nation that “jails and incarceration and law enforcement is a sickness,” a stunning flourish of woke rhetoric from the man in charge of a city still trying to get a handle on violent crime. That kind of moralizing about police while excusing criminals sounds righteous in a sermon, but it’s a grotesque abdication when your constituents are being shot in the streets.
Local and national commentators have been airing clips and messages of Mayor Brandon Johnson attacking prisons and policing as part of the problem rather than the solution, and conservative voices rightly see it as tone-deaf and dangerous. You can’t preach rehabilitation and social programs while simultaneously hollowing out the institutions that keep neighborhoods stable and citizens safe.
Words matter, but so do actions — and Johnson has presided over delays and cuts that directly affect public safety, including pauses on police academy classes and staffing decisions tied to a looming budget crisis. The administration’s hiring freeze and the decision to delay recruit classes drew immediate outrage from aldermen and union leaders who warn the department is already short thousands of officers.
At the same time the mayor was lecturing on “sickness,” the city faces scrutiny from the Department of Justice over its hiring practices, a political and legal headache that should make any mayor focused on results rethink his messaging. Chicagoans deserve leaders who protect due process and public safety, not mayors who shift blame to jails and courts while inviting federal probes.
The policy consequences are predictable: when you tell police they’re the problem and simultaneously gut training and reform budgets, you disincentivize good people from serving and empower bad actors on the streets. Cutting the very reform and oversight offices that could make policing better while lecturing the public on root causes is not leadership — it’s theater.
Hardworking Chicagoans don’t want sermons; they want safety for their families and accountability from City Hall. That means restoring recruit classes, backing police with clear support and resources, and prioritizing law and order over trendy slogans that sound compassionate but produce more chaos.
Voters should remember who defended neighborhoods and who left them exposed when election season comes around. It’s time to stop rewarding rhetoric and start electing leaders who put the rule of law, common sense policing, and the safety of citizens ahead of political posturing.
