The Black Lives Matter movement is responsible for a rise in violent crime across the country, according to former Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy.
Speaking with radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York, McCarthy on Sunday placed blame on the movement and their protests for creating a "political atmosphere of anti-police sentiment" across the country.
McCarthy explained that the movement has created an environment that has "emboldened" violent criminals, while "hamstringing" police officers, which McCarthy said contributes to increased "lawlessness" and violent crime.
"So what’s happening, and this is ironic, is that a movement with the goal of saving black lives at this point is getting black lives taken, because 80 percent of our murder victims here in Chicago are male blacks,” he explained. “Less than half of 1 percent of all the shootings in this city involve police officers shooting civilians."
McCarthy went on to explain that the murder rate has skyrocketed 90 percent in Chicago over the past two years, which he said is "simply unacceptable."
"We are very clearly going down the wrong path," he added.
Part of the reason crime continues to skyrocket, McCarthy explained, is because policing procedures that have proven to reduce crime in cities is being "reversed," partly because of the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-police sentiment.
But McCarthy said he does have some hope. He told Catsimatidis that he's "hopeful" President-elect Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions — Trump's nominee for Attorney General — will do more to empower police, which will in turn help reduce skyrocketing crime rates.
"I think the Trump election quite frankly is a reaction to that,” McCarthy said of rising crime the Obama administration's position toward police. “I think the people are tired of career politicians who’ve never really had a job telling us how we should think and how we should act."
Listen to McCarthy's full interview below:
