In the wake of the 2020 death of Geroge Floyd during his arrest in Minnesota, an anti-police narrative began to sweep much of the nation, leading in some cases to calls for entire law enforcement agencies to be defunded.

As crime of all sorts began to spike in many of these areas, however, such drastic measures have lost support, with some former proponents — as well as a growing number of ordinary citizens — beginning to advocate for even more police funding.

Police departments are not being funded across the board, though, as evidenced by the decision of one city in the same state where Floyd died.

The Moose Lake City Council cited insufficient staffing and a budget shortfall in its recent decision to disband its local police agency. Going forward, the municipality will enter into a contract with the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services for its residents.

What had been a five-person police force in Moose Lake dwindled to just once after two resignations last year and two more last month.

Although the city is not unique in its budgetary struggles, the decision to shutter the local police department is particularly noteworthy in this case due to the fact that the inmates of a prison and participants in a sex-offender program located therein account for roughly half of the city’s entire population.

Mayor Ted Shaw voted along with one other council member against the decision, noting that he was concerned about the statewide trend of small police departments being disbanded and was “disappointed” that his city met the same fate.

36. That’s how many police departments have disbanded in MN since 2016. Moose Lake is just the latest one due to budget constraints.

We’ll break down what happens next on @NorthernNewsNow Today☀️ pic.twitter.com/cyktfImwBm

— Mitchell Zimmermann (@mitch_zimm) February 15, 2024

“That tells you there is a real problem with inflation and budget and state supports,” he added. “Something isn’t right.”

The anti-police drumbeat of leftist activists over the past several years has resulted in a troubling rise in the number of officers who have opted to either resign or retire early from the force.

The results of a poll released in April found that the number of resignations and retirements were 47% and 19% higher, respectively, in 2022 than in 2019.

Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College and a former president, lamented: “There’s a vicious cycle of it getting worse.”