When I first heard the plea to defund the police, I’m not gonna lie, I was like wtf and how tf. For some reason it was such an unimaginable concept to be in a world without police. Yes, that institution has wreaked havoc on the black community for decades, but it keeps some people safe, right? Without understanding other options, what other avenue was there?!
Having us believe there is no other way is how that organization has been able to persist this long. Not being able to visualize a world without police is one of the reasons they’ve continued their threatening presence in our neighborhoods and lulled us into this falsehood that we can’t live peacefully without them. But then when you think about how their involvement has resulted in the murders of so many people, how they typically only show up after a crime has been committed, and they are often not equipped to handle a lot of what they’re called in to do, all of these notions of safety fall away. You start to realize that not having a police force as it operates now isn’t such a wild idea, but one to be seriously considered. Police, when you think about it, aren’t preventing crime from happening. They rarely deescalate situations. They intimidate people and can and frequently do make situations more uncomfortable, even dangerous. Instead of depending on them to solve everything or calling on them for help, we need to reconsider all of the public services that go along with a city’s budget outside of the police. There are so many programs that can be adequately funded to protect and serve our neighborhoods that don’t require gun-carrying egomaniacs. Of course, not all police are incapable of handling sensitive cases, but let’s face it, the majority are not equipped with the training or wherewithal to do so.
The other, more tangible reasons police have been operating with impunity is they belong to powerful unions that can dictate how and when disciplinary action is taken against an officer. They also have something called qualified immunity which basically protects police from being prosecuted and continues to be the reason families across the country are being let down by insane injustices. The coupling of these makes it nearly impossible to indict the police for their murderous behavior. It’s extremely hard to investigate them when their disciplinary records are kept so tightly under-wraps and they actively deny any kind of oversight. Without question there needs to be reform, and I think these realities are why people are ready to abolish police altogether.
Another thing I think is being missed when people say defund the police is the ultimate goal: The creation of an environment and culture that enables communities to thrive rather than be terrorized. Providing services that will help people experiencing homelessness, funding clinics that can take care of people suffering from addiction, providing more succinct healthcare, and livable wages. This isn’t rocket science, but it certainly is a science. Defunding the police is definitely something we should be working towards, but in tandem need to address the needs of each community, because they could vary considerably from state to state. Defunding the police is a blanket term but determining how that process will go and deciding which programs will benefit from this reformation is equally important.
There are a few myths generating about defunding the police, and the number one notion is getting rid of the police force entirely. Though that is another conversation being had, Abolish the Police, which I am certainly not opposed to either, it is not the same as defunding the police. Defunding the police just means reallocating potentially BILLIONS (yes, billions - the NYC police budget is 5+ billion American dollars) of dollars to other programs, reinvesting directly into our neighborhoods rather than the policing of them. So putting more money into education, housing, and mental health programs. It’s not as easy as I’m writing it out to be and I understand that, but the alternative is to continue going down the route we’re going and that’s plainly unacceptable.
I also think it’s important to address the entire judicial system. Let’s go there. We are as a nation waking up to the disparities in our society and cannot ignore the giant glaring elephant in the room that is the utter failure of “law and order.” The police are just another symptom of a wider problem of inequality. How we currently handle non-violent crimes that result in a glaring discrepancy from POC versus non-POC is outrageous. Our drug laws were put into place to lock up the black community behind bars and throw away the key. We simply cannot continue talking about defunding the police or any kind of reform without reexamining the way sentencing continues to be so drastically inconsistent and the amount of black people who are incarcerated. It enrages me to think about how Reagan, Nixon, Bush Sr., and the precious Clintons have contributed so completely to the current state of things. Mass incarceration continues to plague this country and is a huge blemish on our democracy. Though there are some myths around mass incarceration that article outlines, I think it’s important to understand the regardless of the official numbers and reasons why people are in jail, it all stems from the abhorrent history of this country, the greed that drives decisions that harm rather than help, and a host of other factors beyond what can fit neatly into a candy-colored pie chart. I’m still learning about criminal justice reform, and trying to get myself to a place where I can speak more holistically about it. For now I’m learning more about the implications of mass incarceration and criminal justice reform, what is being done, and what can be done from these places:
Ta-Nehisi Coates - Atlantic Article
This Animated Interview
Criminal Justice Reform
Southern Poverty Law Center
ACLU
It’s time to think outside of the box and reinvent the status quo. We want more and we need to demand it. Our actual lives hang in the balance. This movement is putting a spotlight on a lot of the country’s dirty secrets that can no longer stay hidden. Finally-
BREONNA TAYLOR’S KILLERS HAVE STILL NOT BEEN ARRESTED.
This is a glaring example of why we need reform, defunding, and accountability for this corrupt system. Hell, maybe we should abolish the police.
No justice. No peace.