California Sherif Warns: Pay for Police Now or Suffer Public Safety

One group of people left behind by the Biden administration includes law enforcement across the country. One prime example is in Merced County, California, where Sheriff Vern Warnke says they have been dealing with extremely low levels of police retention and recruitment due to pay and benefits.

“You’ve got to remember, you got to pay for law enforcement. And this is one career field where we can’t shut the doors. We’ve got to keep responding,” Warnke explained. 

“And, it’s to the point where myself, along with administrators, are taking calls. I was out on one today with a crazy lady trying to break into a house. It’s just got to come to an end, and we’ve got to have our local governments realize that law enforcement is expensive, but they’re going to have to pay for it. 

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“They’re going to have to start saying no to some of these other government agencies and pay for law enforcement. You know, I’ve been here, this September will be 45 years, so I’ve got a couple miles under my belt when I’m talking about this.”

And when Ingraham highlighted the demonization of law enforcement and how it has played a role in younger people staying clear of these positions, Warnke completely agreed. 

“It is the vilification, the media central, and it’s mostly our left media that wants to come in and they want in highlight reels to roll, and they don’t give the full story,” he said. 

“And when they make the cops out to be the bad guys, it’s horrifying because we’ve got a lot of young people that could make a great career in law enforcement. And they don’t want to put up with it, just like running for office or anything. They’re going to dig deep. And it just they don’t want their faces out there attached with it.”