The protest line about "defunding the police" is perhaps the most misleading line in the protests roiling the country...really the globe...after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis (where there is a serious effort to eliminate the entire police department and build another better public safety team from the ground up).
What the defunding line really means is changing the police forces, limiting their deployments by not sending them to disputes that can be handled by less militaristic (and less deadly ) public safety resources. (Recommended reading...THIS article in The Atlantic.)
Whatever they do, the new entity must eliminate the insane glue that holds the forces together so much that no officer will report another who is violating common sense decency. Like the officers walking over the bleeding protestor---(and the protest-resignations of others from that squad)---and the officers who assisted in the death of George Floyd without feeling not only free...but obligated---to speak up immediately.
And that means an upheaval in how police officer candidates are selected and trained.
UPDATE:
A Fellow blogger/friend has addressed this issue in his own blog with more insight that I gave it, so HERE is a link to Warm Southern Breeze. Give it a read!
What the defunding line really means is changing the police forces, limiting their deployments by not sending them to disputes that can be handled by less militaristic (and less deadly ) public safety resources. (Recommended reading...THIS article in The Atlantic.)
"At the federal level, protesters and civil-rights groups are urging Congress to pass, among other reforms, a national prohibition on chokeholds; the elimination of federal programs that offer military equipment to local law enforcement; the creation of a national public database of abusive police officers; and an end to qualified immunity, a doctrine that prevents police from being held liable in certain cases for breaking the law."
Whatever they do, the new entity must eliminate the insane glue that holds the forces together so much that no officer will report another who is violating common sense decency. Like the officers walking over the bleeding protestor---(and the protest-resignations of others from that squad)---and the officers who assisted in the death of George Floyd without feeling not only free...but obligated---to speak up immediately.
And that means an upheaval in how police officer candidates are selected and trained.
UPDATE:
A Fellow blogger/friend has addressed this issue in his own blog with more insight that I gave it, so HERE is a link to Warm Southern Breeze. Give it a read!
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