De-fund the Police, Then What?
As a former Naval Base Security Officer and the son of a Police Chief, I have a certain amount of experience and knowledge to bring to this topic. I acknowledge that many of you will disagree with me at first, but please hear me out.
The De-Fund The Police wave is short-sighted and naive. It speaks of anger & resentment & a refusal to live with a broken system. But it also speaks to a desire for quick, simple solutions to complex problems and to catchy slogans.
What I think Derek Chauvin definitively proved we need beyond a reasonable doubt: Massive reform in law enforcement. That doesn't mean de-fund. It means reform for real. And it's going to require funding, lots of funding.
Start with training protocols. Chauvin was a training officer on the day he killed George Floyd. Doesn't that raise an enormous red flag?
Bring the pressure to the police unions. They're getting a lot of play in the press right now for enabling officers like Chauvin to stay in the system.
Weed out the psychologically unsound apples. Start from the top, and work our way down. It takes a particular mindset to be a responsible police officer. The police departments and unions need to start cracking down on anyone who's not fit now. If they want to send a message that they are going to finally learn and improve, then this is how they do it.
Oversight, Regulation, Consequences. Sorry to all you enthusiastic de-regulators out there. But the police have proved time and again that they cannot police themselves. If it takes putting them under the microscope to keep us safe from the agencies who are supposed to keep us safe, then that's what we do.
Fund social services. Mayor DeBlasio has this partly right. Reaching young people earlier, and giving them support and alternatives, can have lasting, positive effects. Giving them routes to education, and a vision for their futures that is better than crime, can pay dividends.
Here is my worries about just de-funding law enforcement:
It's an easy answer that will make people fond of slogans happy. Then they'll move on to the next trendy issue. But the problems in law enforcement won't just magically go away by yanking the money away. If anything, they could get worse.
Law Enforcement is one of the most stressful jobs out there. Every time a cop approaches someone in the line of duty, he knows it could be a matter of life and death. Do you really want to withdraw funds and resources to guys who are already in a high stress environment, and twist the screws to see how much stress they can really take? How could this possibly go well?
De-funding the police will not magically make all the crime go away. Grow up. There is crime in America. There are criminals. There was also plenty of other times when people need the police for emergency services. I'm not talking about all the people who are unjustly imprisoned for something stupid like marijuana possession. I'm talking about rapists, murderers, burglars, armed robbers, violent drug dealers, etc. They are not just going to take a vacation because the police ain't there to police. Do you like the inordinate power of those cartels in other parts of the world? No reason it couldn't happen here.
A few bright sparks have suggested bringing policing down to a community level. Great. So we're going to trust our policing to a bunch of community volunteers without any training, organization, license or infrastructure. We'll sleep at night while these mooks from the neighborhood march up and down the street all night with flashlights? What could possibly go wrong? How soon you forget about Tyvron Martin? This seems like a great way to find out how psychopathic Fred down the street is. Let's arm him too, just to be safe. Yeah, I'm not worried about their ignorance of the penal codes either. Also, who the hell has the time for that stuff? I sure don't. And if you do, I have a suggestion (once the whole economic Corona meltdown is over). Get a job! Matter of fact, if you have the desire to police your neighborhood, and have some time on your hands...maybe you could get a job with the police department! Believe me, after the purge coming, they will be hiring. I just hope their standards are way higher.
My father was career law enforcement. He rose to Chief of Police. He didn't fire his weapon in the line of duty once and neither did I. If we could make it to retirement without killing anyone, so can plenty of others.
As a former Naval Base Security Officer and the son of a Police Chief, I have a certain amount of experience and knowledge to bring to this topic. I acknowledge that many of you will disagree with me at first, but please hear me out.
The De-Fund The Police wave is short-sighted and naive. It speaks of anger & resentment & a refusal to live with a broken system. But it also speaks to a desire for quick, simple solutions to complex problems and to catchy slogans.
What I think Derek Chauvin definitively proved we need beyond a reasonable doubt: Massive reform in law enforcement. That doesn't mean de-fund. It means reform for real. And it's going to require funding, lots of funding.
Start with training protocols. Chauvin was a training officer on the day he killed George Floyd. Doesn't that raise an enormous red flag?
Bring the pressure to the police unions. They're getting a lot of play in the press right now for enabling officers like Chauvin to stay in the system.
Weed out the psychologically unsound apples. Start from the top, and work our way down. It takes a particular mindset to be a responsible police officer. The police departments and unions need to start cracking down on anyone who's not fit now. If they want to send a message that they are going to finally learn and improve, then this is how they do it.
Oversight, Regulation, Consequences. Sorry to all you enthusiastic de-regulators out there. But the police have proved time and again that they cannot police themselves. If it takes putting them under the microscope to keep us safe from the agencies who are supposed to keep us safe, then that's what we do.
Fund social services. Mayor DeBlasio has this partly right. Reaching young people earlier, and giving them support and alternatives, can have lasting, positive effects. Giving them routes to education, and a vision for their futures that is better than crime, can pay dividends.
Here is my worries about just de-funding law enforcement:
It's an easy answer that will make people fond of slogans happy. Then they'll move on to the next trendy issue. But the problems in law enforcement won't just magically go away by yanking the money away. If anything, they could get worse.
Law Enforcement is one of the most stressful jobs out there. Every time a cop approaches someone in the line of duty, he knows it could be a matter of life and death. Do you really want to withdraw funds and resources to guys who are already in a high stress environment, and twist the screws to see how much stress they can really take? How could this possibly go well?
De-funding the police will not magically make all the crime go away. Grow up. There is crime in America. There are criminals. There was also plenty of other times when people need the police for emergency services. I'm not talking about all the people who are unjustly imprisoned for something stupid like marijuana possession. I'm talking about rapists, murderers, burglars, armed robbers, violent drug dealers, etc. They are not just going to take a vacation because the police ain't there to police. Do you like the inordinate power of those cartels in other parts of the world? No reason it couldn't happen here.
A few bright sparks have suggested bringing policing down to a community level. Great. So we're going to trust our policing to a bunch of community volunteers without any training, organization, license or infrastructure. We'll sleep at night while these mooks from the neighborhood march up and down the street all night with flashlights? What could possibly go wrong? How soon you forget about Tyvron Martin? This seems like a great way to find out how psychopathic Fred down the street is. Let's arm him too, just to be safe. Yeah, I'm not worried about their ignorance of the penal codes either. Also, who the hell has the time for that stuff? I sure don't. And if you do, I have a suggestion (once the whole economic Corona meltdown is over). Get a job! Matter of fact, if you have the desire to police your neighborhood, and have some time on your hands...maybe you could get a job with the police department! Believe me, after the purge coming, they will be hiring. I just hope their standards are way higher.
My father was career law enforcement. He rose to Chief of Police. He didn't fire his weapon in the line of duty once and neither did I. If we could make it to retirement without killing anyone, so can plenty of others.
