So what’s next?

[Belsnickel]

(06-09-2020, 04:34 AM)samhain Wrote: I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it, but what are people's thought on the whole "defund the police" issue?

Apparently Minneapolis city council has a veto-proof majority to get it done.

IMO this is dangerous territory both politically and from a law enforcement perspective. I'm not completely sure how it would shake out, but it seems that state and county officials would step into roles once filled by city cops. I've also heard some say that communities would police themselves, which I think is even more risky. Are we talking about vigilanteism here? Does it leave a niche to be filled by organized crime and extortion/protection rackets?

We just saw two clowns go cowboy in Georgia over somebody getting a drink of water at a construction site. I'm not quite ready to think that people at large are going to make rational and safe decisions when it comes to protecting life and property.

Defunding the police isn't about disbanding police; they are two different movements. Defunding is, as discussed, about diverting resources from police to other community based options for mental health, homelessness, food insecurity, etc. While I think that any police officer would say that they are asked to do a lot of things they are not trained to do like dealing with these social issues, I think we need to think about the competing narratives going on.

There has been a lot of criticism about the length/amount of training required for an officer. It's true that many lower stakes professions require more training for their certification, but in order for us to push for reform and require more training they will need, you guessed it, more funding. That is where a ton of money in police departments is already spent, so attempts to divert funds from police would make the training even less.

Disbanding the police is just stupid. I don't really have much more to say about that. Reforms are needed, but that isn't one of them.