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The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

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41–50 of 137 posts

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#41
post #24

I see a lot of people saying "Defund the police doesn't mean no police". Ok, fine. But it's a shitty slogan that, regardless of actual meaning, is doing more harm than good. Normal people don't get the nuance. To them it just sounds like the "defunders" want to get rid of all police. And normal people think that is a very fucking bad idea. Do you know what regular people do when they are worried about their safety, c…

How about "descope"?

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#42
You can't make good policies as emotional reaction of a recent event. I have seen next to 0 non-radical politically feasible research from left wing or black think tanks. Most of the research focused on reducing police violence comes from the Libertarian think tanks like Cato or Fee. Conservative think tanks somehow like police brutality. President's tweet today[1] perfectly summarizes the position of conservatives on police violence.

"Defund the police" could have been sensible slogan had these people talked about it for last 10 years producing research and suggestions. Right now it is just a rallying cry.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-draws-rebukes-...

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#43
post #24

I see a lot of people saying "Defund the police doesn't mean no police". Ok, fine. But it's a shitty slogan that, regardless of actual meaning, is doing more harm than good. Normal people don't get the nuance. To them it just sounds like the "defunders" want to get rid of all police. And normal people think that is a very fucking bad idea. Do you know what regular people do when they are worried about their safety, c…

But I think it's healthy that actual defunding is on the table now. The police need to be accountable. It may be a solution to the police union problem. Defund, start over without the union.

Exactly, don't start your negotiations with a plan that is already a compromise.

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#44
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the unions have much more power than labor negotiations, including being able to decide what laws and policies apply to the police departments.

How is it that police unions can determine what laws apply to police departments? I've never heard of that, could you point me to where I could read up more on that?

Here's one recent article: https://reason.com/2020/06/03/its-time-to-bust-police-unions...

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#45
post #38
post #24

I see a lot of people saying "Defund the police doesn't mean no police". Ok, fine. But it's a shitty slogan that, regardless of actual meaning, is doing more harm than good. Normal people don't get the nuance. To them it just sounds like the "defunders" want to get rid of all police. And normal people think that is a very fucking bad idea. Do you know what regular people do when they are worried about their safety, c…

How about “Deunionize Police”? Doesn’t have the same ring, but would solve many of the issues people are protesting about (accountability, etc).

Democrats are unlikely to do that. If de-unionizing police is solution to incompetent cops what is the solution to incompetent schools ?

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am just pointing out that even unarmed civilians will be a problem.

It does not make sense to me that unarmed members of the public are more dangerous in the US than anywhere else.

Did I say that?

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#47
post #21
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Defund the police" doesn't mean taking away all police. It just means reducing funding and reducing responsibilities of the police to avoid them becoming a catch-all for any civil issue.

What it really means is taking a public sector job and moving it to the private sector. Private police forces employed by the rich will maintain order on private property. The poor will be less protected.

Okay, but in that scenario, that private police officer won't have the collective benefit of a public union. A DA won't be biting the hands that feed them if they choose to prosecute a private police officer.

And the poor are dying from a death of a thousand social services cuts- diminished mental and physical health services, childcare and teen programs, etc. It's not unreasonable to assess whether local spending on police and other services can be re-balanced for better community outcomes.

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#48
post #38
post #24

I see a lot of people saying "Defund the police doesn't mean no police". Ok, fine. But it's a shitty slogan that, regardless of actual meaning, is doing more harm than good. Normal people don't get the nuance. To them it just sounds like the "defunders" want to get rid of all police. And normal people think that is a very fucking bad idea. Do you know what regular people do when they are worried about their safety, c…

How about “Deunionize Police”? Doesn’t have the same ring, but would solve many of the issues people are protesting about (accountability, etc).

The problem is that would lead to cognitive dissonance, as the people who want to defund the police also tend to be very pro-union.

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#49
post #5

We have unarmed second tier 'enforcers' in NL ( BOA's ). They patrol some city centers, give parking tickets etc. They have been asked to enforce the 1.5m rule, encountered agression and started protesting because ... they want to be armed. ( They have called for arms before COVID ) edit: Oh, forgot to add : we have these 'enforcers', and their responsibilities have been extended, because we basically defunded the po…

Part of the problem is that America's criminals are very well armed... and that's due to America allowing people to be armed.

I think the bigger problem is that we completely underfund mental health, education, and community oriented programs, and then ask an armed police force to pick up the slack.

Re: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund the Police

#50
Disciplinary policies are "on the table" in negotiations between many city governments and police unions. Taking away funding for salaries will actually add more pressure to make other concessions, which will make the police brutality problem even worse. Collective bargaining with police (for these concessions, at least) needs to end now.

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/869176943/police-unions-and-c...

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