The Answer is ALWAYS "More Police."

 In terms of violent crime, it's hard to find a safer state than Connecticut. In 2020, it was the 4th-safest state in the country. It maintained that status the next year, even with the high property crime rate. 

The places that are considered the "worst" is mostly attributed to (you guessed it) poverty.

So it shouldn't be a surprise to see Gov. Ned Lamont advocate on continuing the policies that has helped pushing to give the police $64 million, right?

Wait; what?

Gov. Ned Lamont rolled out a list of multimillion dollar proposals on Monday that could add more state and local police in Connecticut, eliminate a backlog in the state’s court system, provide support for victims of crimes and reestablish a taskforce to help track down the sources of illegal weapons that are confiscated in the state.

Lamont, who is up for reelection this year, pitched the ambitious public safety agenda after months of complaints from Republican lawmakers, who have voiced concern about upticks in some crimes, like car thefts, over the course of the pandemic.

As part of the announcement, Lamont continued to emphasize that Connecticut’s overall crime rates remain lower than many other states in the country.

Crime data collected by the FBI for 2020 shows that Connecticut had the fourth-lowest number of violent crimes of any state in the country. And overall, violent crime in Connecticut decreased in 2020.

Even so, the scope of Lamont’s legislative agenda suggests that the governor is also looking to blunt any political attacks he may face from Republicans come November.

So, all it took was a small uptick and some complaints from the GOP to freak Lamont out. Instead of using the conservative argument of not changing something that's worked, he falls into the cop trap. 

The lesson is: whether crime is down or up, there will always be a reason for those in power to call for more police. And poverty will barely be addressed.