> Do you seriously propose that 'defund the police' has no effect whatsoever on the murder rate?

This is a straw man of the parent’s position. They say “ blaming it on the "Defund the police" movement is a lazy oversimplification”, not that it had “no effect whatsoever”.

It certainly seems plausible to me that having loads of people — particularly those in lower socio-economic strata - without employment for an extended period of time could certainly contribute to crime rate increases.

There’s no need for straw-manning/hysterics here, we can have a measured conversation or debate.