Recently I have seen Trump television commercials that suggest police defunding will result in citizens not being able to access law enforcement in times of need. As is his usual, his narrative is quite misleading.
Just what is police defunding?
Let’s start with what it isn’t. It doesn’t mean abolishing law enforcement. It doesn’t mean a loss of protective services for citizens. It doesn’t equate to unsafe streets or a rise in crime.
Defunding police simply means reallocating funding aware from law enforcements to other government agencies funded by the local municipality. Statistics show that the majority of 911 calls are for non-violent encounters (ie: George Floyd). Now, too often, as we have seen, such non-violent calls escalate to violent and/or deadly force. Why? Law enforcement officers are trained to assess and arrest as quickly as possible to reduce the threat of harm to themselves and others (not necessarily the perpetrator). This means they may miss valuable clues about a potential detainee’s mental/sober state. Defunding police would reallocate dollars to social service agencies – mental health/substance abuse, trauma centers, etc. Police would respond to crime related calls – all other calls would be redirected to appropriate agencies that would respond immediately – just like police. A social worker/counselor on the scene such as the Wendy’s in Atlanta, GA probably would have prevented the death by arrest of Rashard Brooks. Certain George Floyd would be alive to take care of his allege $20 debt if law enforcement had not been involved. A result of police defunding is that law enforcement can focus on maintaining safety and not be overwhelmed by non-emergency calls. A result of police defunding is that police officer required paperwork would not have glaringly missing information, such as in the case of Breanna Taylor in Louisville, KY. In that report her injuries were listed as “none”. Really? A result of police defunding is that mental health/addiction will be decriminalized and people will receive the help they need. A result of police defunding is that taxpayer dollars will be used to improve factors that often create unsafe streets: homelessness, addiction, mental health, etc. Finally, a result of police defunding is reduction in police violence and death by arrest.
Many scholars indicate that contemporary police skillset and training are out of sync with the types of social interactions they encounter. Defunding police helps to address this by funding the experts and allowing police to do police work.
Consider Camden, NJ. In 2013, the city disbanded its police force and dissolved the local police union. It was a rocky process, but the end result is a city with significantly reduced claims of excessive use of police force, a disrupted ‘blue code of silence’ that traditionally hides police corruption, better community/police relations, a reduction in crime, etc. A full account of the city’s transformation can be found here. It all started with defunding the police and creating a totally new system.
Now, Camden’s story is, undoubtedly, radical. All police departments may not need such radical transformation. However, most can benefit from the initial start of defunding. The result, contrary to Mr. Trump’s misleading falsehoods, will lead to a positive outcome for cities across this nation.