An Obama Crime Wave Spreads Across America

06:56 PM ET

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Baltimore police attempt to enforce a curfew on April 28, 2015. AP View Enlarged Image

Lawlessness: Fueled by this president's anti-police policies and race-baiting rhetoric, thugs are attacking cops and terrorizing major cities. Horrible violence is breaking out all over. We are witnessing a national crime wave.

Law enforcement expects to see an escalation in criminal activity over the summer. Already we've seen a disturbing trend in May, including:

• The deadliest month Baltimore has seen in more than 15 years, with almost 30 shootings and nine deaths just over the holiday weekend. That makes well over 100 murders this year, compared with 71 at this time last year, the fastest the city has reached 100 homicides since 2007.

• Any time Baltimore officers respond to calls on the city's west side, scene of the Freddie Gray riots, as many as 50 people threaten them, Police Chief Anthony Batts says. "We have to send out multiple units just to do basic police work," he said. "It makes it very difficult to follow up on violence that takes place there."

• In Melbourne, Fla., likewise, police have reported mobs surrounding and striking cops trying to handcuff suspects in two separate cases in the past two weeks.

• A similar spike in violence was reported in Chicago, where 12 people were killed and at least 44 — including a 4-year-old girl — wounded in mostly gang-related shootings over the Memorial Day weekend.

• In Manhattan, 16 people have been murdered this year, a 45% jump over the same period last year, while the number of shooting victims nearly doubled, from 33 to 61. That doesn't include a rash of Central Park muggings, subway assaults and vandalism.

• In the nation's capital, the so-called "D.C. Mansion Murders" have gripped the city, which is suffering a similar surge in homicides.

V In Omaha, Neb., a white female police officer was shot and killed by a black gang member as she tried to serve him a felony arrest warrant.

• A New Orleans housing authority cop, also white, was gunned down as he sat in his patrol car — the first on-duty death in the department's history.

• In Rio Rancho, N.M., another white police officer was gunned down after pulling over a gang member during a traffic stop — the first officer shot and killed in the line of duty in the department's 34-year history.

Victims can blame the crime surge on politicians who give criminals "space" to break the law. Who order cops to stop "stop and frisks." Who tie their hands while giving thugs license to loot and kill.

Called "racists," officers' morale is in the sewer. Cops fear for their safety and worry about being unfairly accused of using excessive force against black criminals.

New York's liberal mayor is even calling for "amnesty" for criminals with outstanding warrants, on recommendation from President Obama's police reform task force, which also urges police to "de-escalate and retreat" when trying to arrest violent offenders.

Obama, meanwhile, has unilaterally disarmed local police by banning military-style antiriot gear.

This is a recipe for the national crime wave we predicted in January 2009. Then, we editorialized that "Obama may have to deal with a crime wave the likes of which we haven't seen in decades," thanks to his soft-on-crime urban policies.

Regrettably, crime was an issue left undebated during the last two presidential races. It should move front and center this campaign.

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