What we need is MORE SERVICES!
In a recent video, I forget specifically which, but a city police chief complained about how much people ask of the police. (paraphrasing) "A man trying to kill himself? Us. Homeless guy freaking out downtown? Us. A mentally unfit man at the beach? Us. A kid shop lifting a carton of milk? Us. A man shooting his wife? Us. Investigating a serial killer? Us. We have to do nearly everything and are expected to know how to handle it all."
This is what I think people mean by "Defund the Police". We are not asking for that money to just vanish into thin air. We want the police to get less money and focus on what they are supposed to focus on. ENFORCEMENT.
Every time a city cuts a service they once provided, they always dump that service on the cops to handle it. We need to rewind that by shrinking the police and bringing back services that act as a sort of buffer between police and society, with police being the "last resort" when violence or breaking the law is inevitable or just a support crew when others need help. It works fine with other services like Fire Departments and EMS, so why can't we get services for say mental health, homelessness, drug rehabilitation, job services, etc using some of the the millions (or in some case BILLIONS!) the police get every year? Let's get people that's entire job is to uplift those faltering and try to bring them to a better way, rather then just throwing the cop at it who puts the dude in jail because it's the only thing cops are really supposed to do when someone is "problematic".
In a recent video, I forget specifically which, but a city police chief complained about how much people ask of the police. (paraphrasing) "A man trying to kill himself? Us. Homeless guy freaking out downtown? Us. A mentally unfit man at the beach? Us. A kid shop lifting a carton of milk? Us. A man shooting his wife? Us. Investigating a serial killer? Us. We have to do nearly everything and are expected to know how to handle it all."
This is what I think people mean by "Defund the Police". We are not asking for that money to just vanish into thin air. We want the police to get less money and focus on what they are supposed to focus on. ENFORCEMENT.
Every time a city cuts a service they once provided, they always dump that service on the cops to handle it. We need to rewind that by shrinking the police and bringing back services that act as a sort of buffer between police and society, with police being the "last resort" when violence or breaking the law is inevitable or just a support crew when others need help. It works fine with other services like Fire Departments and EMS, so why can't we get services for say mental health, homelessness, drug rehabilitation, job services, etc using some of the the millions (or in some case BILLIONS!) the police get every year? Let's get people that's entire job is to uplift those faltering and try to bring them to a better way, rather then just throwing the cop at it who puts the dude in jail because it's the only thing cops are really supposed to do when someone is "problematic".